I AM writing with regard to the response to my letter in last week's Craven Herald regarding the proposed Ashfield development by Craven District Council.

I note that the reply to my letter is from a council spokesperson, but it would be most useful to residents to know whether these plans are supported by their local members. Given that the Whitefriars carpark proposal was supported by our local representatives, it’s understandable that we are concerned.

Firstly the writer of this letter mustn’t have attended the consultation meeting held at Victoria Hall in 2019 because there was outright hostility to the ill thought out proposals, and at one point of the meeting CDC employees had to leave because they obviously weren’t prepared for these proposals being roundly rejected by residents.

The only project which was supported by a number of residents was the derelict council buildings at the Hoffmann kiln site at Langcliffe.

CDC’s reply does not deny the scale of the building that has been indicated, and hasn’t really acknowledged the impact of the volume of traffic in Kirkgate, as well as the potential danger to pedestrians which will require improvements to the pavements.

All of these indirect improvements, including restricting entry into Kirkgate and improvements to paving add to the development costs of the Ashfield site and directly necessitate the scale of the building to increase in order to recoup these costs.

My initial indication of a footprint of 120m2, may in fact be an underestimation of the size of the building. We will have to wait and see.

My concern is that this proposal will not see the light of day until after the local elections,as I suspect it will be deeply unpopular.

What Settle needs is more affordable housing for younger residents. Instead of having a mixture of flats and a large retail unit, why can’t it be entirely affordable housing in the form of flats or small two bedroomed houses?

CDC needs to deliver something that is in the best interest of residents not something which is out of keeping with the buildings in this designated conservation zone.

In my opinion Settle needs to support younger people to the town and to initiate developments that attract businesses.

Simon Desborough

Kirkgate, Settle

(Craven District Council has previously said that response to the 2019 consultation was 'generally positive' but that some amendments had been made as a result of comments.The Ashfield scheme has not yet been submitted, but when it is all interested parties will be able to comment again, as part of the planning process.)