Sir - Reference the development of Threshfield Quarry: They don't want much do they?

All they want is a blank cheque for £20m, plus incidentals, plus the cost of the quarry and a bit to cover any unexpected increases due to time, not forgetting another feasibility study.

I am old enough to remember The Bristol Brabazon, The Dome, The Channel Tunnel etc. And I wonder if we will ever wake up?

Note the patter:

* A rough suggestion of the preliminary costs (just to get you used to the idea of spending beyond your means). Money which will have to come out of the public purse.

* A suggestion that the whole community should or would help.

* The need for a second "feasibility" study, no doubt to do the job the first one should have done properly. (And you can bet the price will have gone up).

* The quarry might be "gifted"? If someone owns the quarry they will want a nice little penny, especially if something like £2m is talked about.

* When someone says it will give work to XX number of people, does this mean to start with, or when it has been opened 12 months and the novelty has worn off?

* How are people in a rural environments like the Dales, where quarrying is losing ground, going to make any meaningful contribution to the project? And for how long?

* The only people to rub their hands with glee will be the "feasibility and consultant personnel" etc.

* We can't even afford to keep the public toilets in Hebden open, despite a crying need, and all that is needed are a few paltry thousand to bring them up to scratch.

* May I ask who is going to pick up the "tab" when the project starts to fall into arrears? Will local contractors be invited to help, or are they too small to be bothered with?

I don't know where the YDNP stands on this but - as that man said 2,000 years ago - "By their fruits will you know them."

J Bilbrough, Hebden Hall Park, Hebden

New concepts

The news of the Threshfield Quarry Project in the Craven Herald awakens the imagination of everybody interested in this area.

Given time and careful thought, the district is open to different concepts, beginning with an arena.

This is the venue where art and sport can unite amicably. The old quarry will become alive with people of all ages. Some comments support the idea of artificial ski and board slopes and the development of indoor activities. These facilities have already been tried and tested elsewhere with great success.

Another exciting possibility is the restoration of the Threshfield Route, originally to terminate at Threshfield Station - a new transport approach with a modern shuttle bus link'. It is possible, but there may be all sorts of problems attached. We know this is why ideas take decades to implement. We don't want a Disneyland, but what do we want? We can work it out!

Frank Johnson, Aynham Close, Grassington

Appeals pressure

Sir - We have today received a letter addressed by Mr J Goodfellow, chairman of the board of governors at Skipton Girls' High School, as part of the North Yorkshire County Council case against admission through the statutory appeal process.

It threatens members of the panel that "no appeals to be allowed at this time" because of the "dire shortage of accommodation" at Skipton Girls' High School.

This would appear, on the face of it, to be a direct threat to the members of the panel which I consider to be above and beyond Mr Goodfellow's remit as chairman.

I understand that he has to represent the school, but the panel is a statutory panel established to ascertain the merits of appeals to the high school made in good faith. I find his attempts to place undue pressure on the panel members to be offensive and an affront to their important role in these matters.

He implies that if I successfully appeal to gain access to the high school for my daughter that I am jeopardising the education of those pupils already there. If his intent was to intimidate both myself and the panel members, then I can categorically state that he has failed in my case.

The statutory appeal panels are officially convened and form part of my right as a parent to gain access to the best possible education for my daughter. In my view, Mr Goodfellow is showing complete contempt for both my rights and the members of the statutory appeal panel. I hope the members of the panel are as angry as I am.

Why does Mr Goodfellow and his board of governors continue to perpetuate a system that has been branded by the Schools Adjudicator as being "unfair" and bring this "scourge" of overcrowding down on the school. The school remains tight-lipped on the subject and it does them no credit.

Stephen Hanson, Crossbank, Skipton

Wind farm truths

Sir - In response to John Sheard's article, "Quest to find truth about wind farm", it is excellent to see such a balanced and well researched article in the Craven Herald.

Mr Sheard and Mr Emmett obviously have difficulty in understanding the motivation for the construction of wind turbines and draw links between the heroin trade and climate change in order to increase the journalistic hyperbole.

Mr Emmett's rural idyll, between two busy traffic routes, will quite obviously be ruined by the construction of such giant turbines, in much the same way that the view from Skipton to Addingham is ruined by the turbines at Chelker.

If Mr Sheard and Mr Emmett were to walk up Ingleborough on a clear day, they would be able to see two nuclear power stations. I feel this may be a definite case of NIMBYism; we will use the electricity but, please, we have a picture-postcard retirement home, don't spoil it for us.

Having formed the single-interest Friends of Craven Landscape group, Mr Emmett has taken six months and used all his detective skill to establish that EnergieKontor and the landowners would like to build some turbines.

Mr Sheard rightly points out that, during the 1980s and early 1990s, the emerging wind turbine companies were subsidised by the Government to enable growth and development, enabling ever more efficient technologies to be developed (the twin bladed turbines at Chelker date from this time).

Now the market is developed and the public is becoming aware something must be done to combat climate change (not mentioned by Mr Sheard), firms such as EnergieKontor are able to provide this mature technology such that our reliance on oil and gas may be reduced.

I worry that Mr Sheard is using Mr Emmett's inability to penetrate a business deal between the landowner and a German energy company to obfuscate his own campaign against wind turbines.

Dr Paul Jaquin, Princes Drive, Skipton

I'm 4 John!

Sir - I read with interest John Sheard's comments regarding the exorbitant increase in Vehicle Excise Duty on 4x4 vehicles in last week's Craven Herald. I agree with every word he says.

Last week, I wrote to Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling and sent a copy to David Curry on this subject, but I do not think they will ever read them. If the ministers and their advisers got out into the countryside more, they would see the vast majority of 4x4s are not used on the Chelsea school run. The main users are farmers, forestry workers, fencing contractors, the rescue services, etc.

If the anti-4x4 campaigners think they have won, remember the utility services use thousands of 4x4s and their increased costs will go on everyone's electricity, water and gas bills.

These are very unfair charges of £400 when you consider white van man only pays £180 with the same engine emissions as 4x4s. Van man probably does ten times the mileage of the average farmer as he is on the road all day, five or six days every week. I average 4,000 miles per year (£100 per thousand).

I believe these increases have been introduced to appease the anti-4x4 brigade because they sound "green" and there may be a vote or two in it for them.

I cannot see it putting one wealthy Londoner's "tractor" off the road. Like so many of this Government's actions, it has not been thought through.

HC Bargh, Chapel-le-Dale, Carnforth

Fiery Fred fury

Sir - So Craven District Council has given £15,000 towards a statue of Fred Trueman (Craven Herald, April 4).

The council has recently committed millions of pounds of public money to the new swimming baths, the new dance theatre/creche extension and new climbing wall at the baths and, of course, the new CDC palace (sorry offices) on Gargrave Road, all with huge interest charges, subsidies and ongoing costs for many years to come.

It really is very easy to spend other people's money. This at a time when tax payers are facing huge rises in the cost of food, fuel, gas, water, electricity, mortgages, council tax etc and this greedy Government have just removed the 10 per cent income tax band for poorer families.

Fiery Fred was a great sportsman and we should have a statue of him in Skipton, with funds raised by public subscription. As a true Yorkshireman, Fred would be appalled about someone spending all that brass (£80,000!) on a bronze figure. I can just imagine him knocking a few heads together!

M Jones, Grassington Road, Skipton

Litter blame

Sir - In response to the litter complaint at Cross Hills by Stephen Cochrane (Craven Herald, March 28), as a Spar employee I feel that the comments made were inappropriate.

Staff at the Spar ensure that not only is the shop floor swept, but the outdoor premises are swept on a daily basis for customer satisfaction. This is in addition to a council worker also picking up litter in the late afternoon.

We feel that the problem lies with the youths who gather outside the premises, which includes the takeaway referred to, as they do not uses the litter bins provided.

When confronted about this they give verbal abuse.

The police have been notified of the problem they cause but cannot afford to police the youths and the litter they cause.

Although the litter problem is not solely on their part, some of the blame should be with the youths for their part in the litter problem and not with the businesses helping the community.

Nick Wearmouth, Middleton, Cowling

Trains trouble

Sir - Regarding your article on the "Campaigners on track to win late night trains" (Craven Herald, April 4), anyone who has travelled on the 23.18 late night service on a Friday and Saturday knows that it is invariably filled with passengers who are rowdy, drunk and aggressive ... and I haven't even mentioned the women who are generally even worse.

The guard very rarely passes through the train, dispatching the train from the last coach, and who can blame them faced with the above.

If the 23.18 is bad, it does not take much imagination to guess the impact on a train leaving at 01.30 and 03.00, approximately two to three-and-a-half hours later, with passengers out of their heads with drink.

I think I can assure you that the staff at Northern Rail will be of the same opinion given the current climate of binge drinking that is prevalent in our society today.

Brian Cockram, Coppice Lane, Hellifeld

Points ignored

Sir - In 2006 under the auspices of the Secretary of State for Health, a White Paper was presented to Parliament named Our Health, our Care, our Say. Such a paper is issued in order to guide such bodies as primary care trusts in their administration.

The quotes below, taken directly from this White Paper, illustrate how far our PCT have ignored government direction with regard to the threatened closure of Harden Ward at Castleberg.

* Para 6.2 "In future, far more care will be provided in a more local and convenient setting" and "A strategy, centred on high-cost hospitals, will be inefficient and unaffordable."

* Para 6.19 "Acute beds could be released if better use is made of intermediates care beds."

* Para 6.20 "Frail older people rely particularly on what are called "intermediate care facilities". These are in the community outside acute hospitals" and "Such facilities enable people to leave the acute hospital and to get ready to return home (step down').

* 6.42 "Some community hospitals are currently under threat of closure, as Primary Care Teams consider the best configuration of services in their area. We are clear that community facilities should not be lost in response to short-term budgetary pressures that are not related to the viability of the community facility itself".

* 6.43 "So Primary Care Trusts taking current decisions about the future of community hospitals will be required to demonstrate to their Strategic Health Authority that they have consulted locally."

Having read the above quotes from the Government White Paper one might reasonably question whether or not the primary care trust has ever read this document.

From retired GPs Dr Barry Brewster, Dr Pam Douglas, Dr John Wright, Dr Eric Ward and Townhead surgery GPs Dr W Hall, Dr C Littlejohn, Dr H Noakes, Dr C Renwick, Dr A Davies, Dr King, Dr J Renwick and Dr P Harris

Any answers?

Sir - This is an edited copy of a letter to Dr Janet Soo Chung, the chief executive of the North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust.

I should like to add my name to those unhappy at the closing of Harden Ward at Castleberg Hospital and the proposed Hospital at Home. I also have the fear Harden Ward will not open again - closure by stealth? The facts and the sequence of events proposed seem incomprehensible, especially in the face of Government approval of community hospitals and the degree of professional agreement locally that the resulting situation is, and will be, detrimental to the health of the community - your concern and responsibility.

Though it is possible to understand some of your difficulties and reasons for restructuring and, possibly, financial problems, it seems to me that your apparent lack of social accounting, and your priorities, are unfortunate. I urge you therefore to think again.

Some of the points I hope you will bear in mind are these: 1) Both the lack of detailed information made available to the public and the speed with which you appear to be acting have troubled many. Where has the consultation been?

2) There are several community newsletters in the district for which you could offer some factual articles. And you could offer something to the Craven Herald, perhaps.

3) You have managed to create considerable distrust and anger about your understanding of the problems of North Craven. What a pity you have not taken steps to harness the energy which people are displaying in their reactions to your proposals. You could advise the public how they could help to put pressure on higher authorities, for instance. Take us along with you if you can - let us work with you if we can.

4) More specifically, can you begin to dispel the attitude many of us have towards the PCT? I am sorry to say it, but the PCT does look silly, uninformed, inconsistent and seems to be unlistening to local professional opinion and unfeeling to local wishes and worries.

Please provide answers to some of our uncertainties and questions (see the Craven Herald for examples), including, is your need to balance your books a part of the problem? Some examples of how exactly the Hospital at Home will work might be helpful and why you are planning dispersal of facilities and staff when the trend in medical circles seems to be to centralise them? Can you really not repair Castleberg roof with Harden Ward still operating? How can the social services base remain if Harden Ward has to move out? Perhaps there are simple answers.

HG Lupton, Constitution Hill, Settle

Irreplaceable

Sir - This is a copy of a letter sent to Dr Janet Soo Chung.

Members of Age Concern Hellifield deeply regret the imminent closure of Harden Ward at Castleberg Hospital, Giggleswick.

This facility has been used and appreciated by many of our past and present members for some considerable time.

The loss to the whole area of the excellent rehabilitation, palliative and terminal care afforded by staff at Harden Ward will be great and cannot be stressed too highly. In our opinion, such extensive care cannot be replaced by the proposed experimental "Hospital at Home" care scheme.

Ellen Toomé, Chairman/Administrator, Age Concern, Gisburn Road, Hellifield

9:25am Friday 11th April 2008

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