I AGREE with Tom Clinton’s view that a massive pile-up of cars in Settle to bring people to enjoy a cable-car ride to Malham would be unacceptable, (We need to cut cars. Craven Herald Letters September 14) and would not do a lot for my reputation in the local community either!

During the 20 years I lived in Malham before moving to Settle, there were many conversations on what to do about visitor car parking in the village, the congestion caused by inconsiderate parking on narrow roads, and the damage caused by using agricultural land to park cars. Cutting the numbers of cars coming to the village must be a priority.

Colin Speakman points out in his article in the same paper, it needs a “pragmatic strategy” to make existing public transport links work to the benefit of local residents and visitors alike, and proposes a range of adjustments to bus routes and timetables. However buses using the same access roads will clash with motorists driving into the village, rather than waiting for the next bus from Skipton.

Persuading visitors to leave their cars at home and use public transport must be a key part of any transport strategy.

Settle station on the popular Settle/Carlisle railway line, provides access from as far afield as Leeds and Carlisle. Frequent bus services stop in the town square linking populations within an hour’s journey or less. A cable car solution would provide a continuous link with Malhamdale. A system of one day family excursion tickets, attractively priced and marketed by the bus and rail companies, incorporating the cable car ride to Malham, would connect the two systems seamlessly.

Local residents, benefitting from season tickets, would take the cable car ride, rather than make the tortuous drive over the tops for shopping, socialising, etc.

Bring it on!

Sandy Tod

Settle