Building has to stop

With the greatest of respect to Mrs Bradley it is me who is on planet Earth and the people who support non-stop building who inhabit another planet, cloud cuckoo land would be a good name for it.

My thoughts are purely logical and forward looking.

I asked when the building of more houses would stop because common sense says we can’t keep on ad infinitum.

The more the population grows the more food we must produce to feed it, the more land we build on the less food we can produce.

Conclusion - famine and death by starvation. This is a world problem that needs addressing, not just in Craven.

As for the Chinese, by 1979 when the one child rule came in they had realised that population growth was outstripping food production, why bring more people into the world if you can feed them?

When the one child rule came in China’s population was 970 million and rising by nearly two per cent a year. Statistics show that a population increase of three per cent a year will double a country’s population in just over twenty years.

China’s population is now around 1.7 billion, but at least they have 3.7 million square miles to house them in. We are a small island with less than 94,000 square miles to play with yet our population has risen annually from 0.25% in 2000 to 0.54% now.

Yes we need homes for the young people and at the moment the situation is not so serious, but long after we are pushing up daisies, if the population trends continue people in power are going to have to take some hard decisions worldwide.

So back to my question in my first letter, when will someone come up with an answer as to when we must stop building on land to leave enough of that land to feed us?

PAUL MORLEY Ribblesdale Estate, Long Preston

Space not an issue

Jean Bradley, my mother, does not feel Mr Scott-Smith’s accusations against her should be dignified with a reply. I have no such qualms.

Here on “planet reality”  Jean Bradley is not and never has been a landowner of any magnitude.

Also in the real world the UK has an urban land coverage of less than 10% so in reality we are not in imminent danger of running out of space.

 Our population has grown as Mr Scott-Smith correctly points out.  However he does not mention that UK death rates have fallen by so much that 100,000 less people in the UK are dying per year than 30 years ago.

He does not mention that infant mortality has fallen by more than half over the same time frame.

So contrary to his fearmongering immigration is only part of the reason for a growing population.

I also feel sure that Mr Scott-Smith will be aware that nearly two thirds of all immigrants come to this country to work, to study or join family members.

No doubt he also knows that our fertility rate has dropped to below two.

In due course this means that, without immigration, the old will have a diminishing number of working age people to provide the increasing care services needed.

 So is Mr Scott-Smith against people living longer, less babies dying, the old living in squalor, international students paying for a UK education, willing workers working and loved ones living together?

 ANTHONY BRADLEY Long Preston  

A poisoned chalice

My thoughts exactly Mr Colley (Craven Herald April 20). It seems to me promoting Skipton as a top place to live has been a poisoned chalice!

I also have received one of the ingratiating Pegasus Group consultation leaflets. This is my response.

a) Building on precious Green Field sites weakens the ecology of the area. No-one seems to be listening to the environmentalists about upsetting the balance of nature and flooding risk.

b) On average one new house puts two more cars on our already bottle-necked roads.

Access may be available along Knaresborough Road but the issue is the increased load of traffic in Skipton and parking. Cars littering residential side streets have increased dramatically constructing access and movement and making driving hazardous for both drivers and pedestrians. Not to mention the blot on the landscape they create.

c) The character of our market town is being eroded not by a drop but a torrent of housing development. Culprits are Craven district council and its woeful handling of the Local Plan.

It has caused the catastrophe and has a lot to answer for. Councillors and officers won’t be forgiven.

d) Our MP Julian Smith needs to get a grip on what is happening and defend our communities from over development.

KRYSTINA WHITE.

Skipton.

Centre says thanks

ON behalf of Glusburn Community & Arts Centre Trustees, I would like to thank all those Co-op Members, who use their stores and garage in Cross Hills and Steeton and who have registered online, to give their 1% donation to local groups.  Our Centre has received £2613.52 as a result of this scheme.  This will be used to buy individual microphones for the children performing on stage, in the various productions.  In turn, this will benefit the audience and in particular, those with hearing difficulties.

We are also very grateful for the community support for our activities in general.  There is a great team of local volunteers who give a huge amount of their time to keeping the Centre open, so it is fantastic to have this financial donation organised by the Co-op Community Scheme.

GILL BIRKS Chair of Glusburn Community & Arts Centre Trustees