RESPONDING to the articles in the Craven Herald about the urgent need for Craven to have a properly functioning planning department – I couldn’t agree more.

I do not wish anybody else in the district to experience what I have over a period of ten years, as I have sought to engage constructively with the planning department regarding local development on, or affecting, my farm.

I directly fed my concerns in to the planning peer review conducted by the Local Government Association last September to express my dissatisfaction and concerns, which go to the deepest level.

I will now share these directly with Councillor Simon Myers (newly appointed lead member for planning) who needs the greatest support from our community to tackle these deep-rooted problems. He has my full support to do just that.

John Howard

Skipton