Readers' Letters (From Craven Herald)

Readers' Letters

8:40am Saturday 16th May 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

Sir - Having just read Geoffrey Randall’s concerns and those of Skipton Civic Society about Government plans to build more houses within the town boundaries, I would like our ‘over the border’ residents to know how Pendle Council has carried out similar work here in Barnoldswick, despite being told of the subsequent risks more building would involve.

Since 1976 almost all private garage space has been sold off to builders. So too have the town’s garden allotments, while the site which presently supports bungalows at Ghyll Meadows and was known to flood when the War Department requisitioned it in 1940 still traps water despite the extensive work carried out on the area. We at Briggs and Duxbury Ltd knew of this land and the nearby Rolf Roger Sports Field flooding, but the council wouldn’t listen.

Skipton is well-known for its flooding, but what more houses means is more sewage and enlarging your present system. If more houses must be built, can I suggest the use of some of the town’s outlying, worked-up quarries, from where there will be plenty of drainage for surplus water? Perhaps room to set up a water wheel and harness some electricity too.

On a final note, perhaps your councillor, Paul Whitaker, would consider reintroducing the Dog Licence Fee. I was in Skipton two weeks ago where I got run down by two out-of-control bull terriers. People who own dogs should learn how to train them to walk to “heel”, not have them on eight-feet pieces of polypropylene tape as these two guys had.

When I refer to training, I can speak from experience as my father, along with the late George Leatt, Robert Hall and several others were founders of the Craven Canine Association which met in Skipton.

A dog lead should be no more than three feet, the slack wrapped round the owner’s hand to keep the animal under control. The plastic-handled retractable leads now being sold are a waste of time. It is only the producer who is reaping any benefit. The best thing they can do is cast off a metre of the webbing, with the snap fastener still attached, and have the other end stitched into a hand loop by a shoemaker or similar worker.

The RSPCA and similar animal rescue centres are overwhelmed with unwanted dogs because of the credit crunch. So please reinstate the former Dog Licence Fee.

OB Duxbury, Lower East Avenue, Barnoldswick

Housing horror

Sir - (The following is an edited version of a letter to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.) With great horror I learned of the interest to develop land for housing in Embsay (plots 023 and 101).

The village, used mainly for commuting to and from, is typical of the Yorkshire Dales anno 21st century. You will be aware of the new development on the old tannery site, Primrose Glen. The full impact of the influx in population is still to be felt, as there are still properties unsold.

The local consensus is clearly to “leave it alone” as was demonstrated by the Village Plan Questionnaire recently.

The access to plot 023 will be using Brackenley Lane (as there is no other option) which is already too small, narrow and, at the bottom end, too populated to cope with current traffic at times. Adding 30 per cent to the size of the village will put too much strain on a small local road. This, in my opinion, is not what the village can take sensibility.

Plot 023 is far too large. Also, it is on an incline and is plagued by flooding when the rains come down. The drainage system can only barely cope. Adding many hectares of land with concrete and asphalt above this area will add to this problem and new drainage systems will have to be built. This expenditure will be ironic considering the building of “affordable homes”.

I learned from your website that if any potential development has an overbearing impact on its surroundings, it will not be deemed satisfactory for planning purposes. I truly believe that this is the case with plot 023 in Embsay.

The plot is elevated above adjacent properties and will have a severe impact on the privacy of approximately 60 homes. On a wider scale, it is also elevated above most of the rest of the village.

From the vast majority of vantage points in Embsay this will be a true eyesore, not only from the village, but viewed from outside. It will overshadow the village itself. Aesthetically this will be a disaster and not in keeping with the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.

When the development of the tannery site was proposed, I didn’t see a real issue. A derelict “brown field site” was redeveloped and it did not impose onto the village itself. The only question is still with the ability of the infrastructure to cope when Primrose Glen is fully occupied. However, it is not overbearing on current residents and the village as a whole.

The proposed developments of plots 023 and 101 will have a major overbearing nature. It will prove expensive in adding to infrastructure (new roads), storm drains etc.

Above all, this will forever change a beautiful, pristine piece of wonderful Yorkshire Dales.

Are there no small “brownfield sites” available?

Hans Jansen, Dales Avenue, Embsay

Any ‘handshake’?

Sir - Alan Perrow (Letters, May 7) called upon the Conservatives on Craven District Council to demonstrate their new-found spirit of openness by revealing how much the last chief executive was given when she left.

Not only would this show respect for ratepayers, but would also serve to draw a line between themselves and the former controlling parties, which might now be in the position of having to account for their actions in the light of a recent High Court decision.

Many readers will remember the furore surrounding the resignation of the chief executive of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells National Health Trust who, despite the fact that she had been the accountable officer for hospitals which had suffered unprecedented levels of death from C-difficile infection, had been awarded a golden handshake. At the instigation of an outraged Health Minister, the trust refused to pay the golden handshake, whereupon the chief executive sued. The High Court has now decided against her.

The basic law would appear to be that, on leaving employment, officers in the public sector are entitled to what is due under their contract of employment and, in the majority of cases, it is a misuse of public funds to pay them anything over and above that, including “irrationally generous” golden handshakes.

The ratepayers of Craven are entitled to know whether there was any such “over and above” payment on the departure of their CEO and whether any payments there might have fulfilled the four criteria of being limited to contractual entitlement, of being good value for money, of being in the public interest and of having been made after careful consideration of whether disciplinary or capability proceedings were appropriate.

The chief executive of the NHS has already circulated NHS Trusts to inform them that golden handshakes should only be paid in exceptional circumstances and presumably the Minister for Local Government will be doing the same for local authorities. Alan Perrow is justified, therefore, in calling for a statement of how much was paid to the departing CEO, but, in addition, there should be a breakdown of how much of that sum was contractual entitlement.

If it should prove that more than the contractual sum has been paid, the council should be asked to explain the “exceptional” circumstances justifying such payment.

John Weatherill, Heronwood, Flasby

Answers, please

Sir - I am in total agreement with Paul Greenwood (Letters, May 7) requesting relentless questioning until explanations are received [for the state of Skipton bus station and Craven’s financial problems]. Unfortunately, Skipton has appeared, over many years, to suffer from an apathetic illness.

Alongside Mr Greenwood’s pleas, might I also bring three other upsetting, seemingly unsolved problems to the forefront?

Firstly, why are we allowing “The Best High Street in the country” to be marred by lines of white vans parked down either side on market days? This is a practice which I thought had been disallowed a while since.

Secondly, I also thought we had “clamped down” on advertising posters and boards being tied to posts and littering the pavements, making them hazardous places to walk, let alone making the walkways untidy and unsightly.

Thirdly and finally, why can’t the council see that Sheep Street would, by now, have looked so much more attractive filled with the happy, smiling faces of shoppers who had just enjoyed a delicious cup of Costa coffee?

Let’s cure the apathy and push for answers and solutions to make our beautiful, historic town even better.

Jennifer A Smith, Victoria Mill, Skipton

Parking protest

Sir - How gratifying to learn that Craven District Council staff will have to pay something towards the parking spaces that are being blatantly commandeered by the council. If this is not 100 per cent, I for one will be making deductions from my rates payable in protest.

As for the Bunker’s Hill debacle, a reduction to eight spaces? What is the cost for the machine and the policing of this? Unbelievable.

Please remind me just how much it cost to get consultants to tell us we are short of parking spaces?

Never mind the council’s finances department joining with Harrogate or Pendle, a total takeover would perhaps lead towards great salary savings.

Bob Wright, Wright Wine Company, Raikes Road, Skipton

Swinging doors

Sir – Reading about the gentleman from Gargrave who was knocked over by a moving part of the glass tunnel in the bus station, I felt I should let him know that this is not the first time that a door has come loose.

April 6 was a very windy morning with sudden strong gusts. When I arrived in Skipton on the Keighley bus at 9.30am, I noticed that the doors on bay six were opening and shutting continuously, even though there was no bus present.

Every time the doors closed, one of them was swinging out at the bottom into the shelter. At that time there were no waiting passengers and I thought that the next Pennine bus driver to use that bay would report the fault.

However, when I returned to the bus station at 11.25am the doors were still blowing in the wind and the loose door had even more movement into the tunnel than before. The young girls waiting for a Pennine bus were too busy chatting to notice it.

When I got home I rang the Craven Council environmental health department and explained the situation to a lady, who sounded as concerned as I was. She put me through to a man who assured me that someone would be sent to repair the door.

The next day I was relieved to see that the doors were closed and the problem had been sorted. I would like to thank them for their positive response.

I have also noted the phone number given on the notices at each stand of where to ring “in case of problems”.

How many people will even read the notices and why should the travelling public be responsible for the maintenance of the building?

A small information kiosk is needed, with a person to offer help and advice at all times throughout the day. They would be able to ring for help in the case of breakdowns to the bus shelter and for medical help in the case of accidents, which can happen to anyone, anywhere, any time.

D Williams, North Row, Sutton-in-Craven

Overflowing bins

Sir - As Craven District Council tries desperately to convince residents that fortnightly bin collections are more a recycling proposition than a cost-cutting one, does it really think that listening to the residents’ opinions will give it any support?

In our previous home we had a normal-sized green bin for household waste, a brown one for garden rubbish for composting and a very large blue one combining papers, bottles and tins.

When we moved we were downsized to what I call a pensioner’s bin – a half-sized, slim, green one, later supplemented by a blue one for paper waste.

The green one is full to the brim every week and the blue one almost full of papers every month. We couldn’t manage to make the green one last for two weeks.

Unless of course we take up the council’s offer to educate us on using every scrap of the Sunday roast (which we don’t actually have) to make it last all week. And we do eat up whatever we have on Sunday so that’s a non-starter. It won’t make a scrap of difference to the contents of our bin.

Then there’s the matter of frontline jobs being axed. I presume “frontline” refers to the men who empty our bins (we have a good team here in Skipton).

These men have mortgages to pay and families to keep and the last thing they want is to lose their jobs in an area where unemployment is high and jobs very scarce. Taking all things into consideration, I think you will be getting many letters on this subject and I guess that all of them will say “No” to this proposal .

What will the council do then? Listen to the people or ignore them? Let’s wait and see.

Patricia Mason, Sackville Street, Skipton

Flytipping warning

Sir - We already have fortnightly brown and blue bin collections. That’s recycling taken care of for glass, tins and paper and cardboard.

I take type 1 and type 2 plastic containers, as well as cardboard fruit juice cartons, to the town hall recycling point.

I am not a keen gardener and have no interest in composting, but very little “kitchen waste” leaves this house; just a broccoli and a cauliflower stem once a week and a few potato peelings.

Cooked meal leftovers, what little there are, are eaten by the birds and my resident hedgehog whose supper, even so, has to be supplemented with bought dog food; the humans here leave insufficient to feed the poor creature!

The majority (8/10) of the waste that goes into my black plastic bag (aka domestic waste) is plastic film and food containers that are not types 1 or 2. The plastic film’s type is not known. There is no facility locally to recycle these other types of plastic – of which there are seven types in all. So on the point of “we must recycle more”, there is no more that I can recycle.

I can easily cope with a fortnightly collection of the green bin due to there being only one other adult who lives with me, but those with children to feed must have more unrecyclable plastic waste from food wrappers and food containers and, if these families have little or no garden, then their green bin will rapidly become full to capacity.

I forecast that the excess domestic waste will be flytipped.

In the Craven Herald article last week, Mr Walker says: “If it is made more difficult ... to throw away their waste on a weekly basis there will be an improvement in recycling rates”.

No! Those last four words should read, “increase in flytipping rates”.

Chris Harbon must also come into modern times. Trying to educate people on how we did it in 1950 will meet with the same reaction as when I say to my grandchildren: “What we did when I was a lad was …” Yes! You know what I mean.

We only behaved like that because we were forced to – the stuff just wasn’t there or we had no money to buy it. We now live in the land of plenty – recession or not!

T Hall, Haw Park, Embsay

A roasting

Sir - I was intrigued to read the article regarding rubbish collections (Herald, May 7), in particular our esteemed local councillors’ intention to educate us into making the most of our Sunday roast.

I initially thought they wanted us to eat the bones, but then further on I noted that Coun Harbron wants to tell us how to make our roast into pork sandwiches. I can’t wait for his instructions – we usually have beef!

It’s beginning to look more and more as though Craven District Council has been infected by the national Government’s patronising, nanny attitude in wanting to control every aspect of our day-to-day lives.

I then read about the council’s search for a financial “partner” – Pendle and Harrogate being mooted. Coming on top of the recent revelations of the dire state of the local finances, this seems to me to be the last desperate gasp of an inefficient, moribund administration that is, in the current idiom, not fit for purpose.

Julian Hide, North Street, Sutton-in-Craven

Rubbish rebate

Sir - Fortnightly rubbish collections across Craven, with “significant financial implications” (sounds like council-speak for “savings”) for Craven District Council?

No problem. I look forward to “significant financial implications” (ie a reduction ) in my council tax.

Ah, almost forgot: the savings will probably go towards buying the tomato seeds and grow-bags for the new greenhouse in Skipton bus station.

Richard G Foster, Clock Cottage, Kirkby Malham

Cut and style

Sir - What a wonderful event the Skipton Canal Weekend was. I particularly liked the nice lady in the big tent who was doing face painting. She drew some rabbits on my scalp and now from a distance I look as though I have some hares on my head.

Frank Robertshaw, Jennings Close, Silsden