Houses on flood plain must be resisted

Local residents, who feared the development would mean increased traffic problems on an already dangerous stretch of road and that it would increase the risk of flooding of other homes in the village, left that meeting naively believing they had won their battle.

Now we learn that the whole issue is to be re-opened next week because planning officials say the refusal is "unsustainable".

Having attended last month's meeting personally, I find this suggestion astonishing since one of the councillors who spoke against the plan quoted extensively and directly from various government planning guidelines, all of which seemed to support the case for refusal.

Sadly, however, I am not surprised by the officers' reaction. Before the meeting they recommended approval - the advance report in this paper prompted many to believe the matter was already cut and dried and merely awaited the committee's rubber stamp - and during the meeting officials were persistent in arguing for approval.

Small wonder that, even in the face of such widespread local opposition, the developer saw no need to attend the meeting nor to make use of his own allocated time to put his own case.

I also discovered that although there was a weighty report on the various letters from objectors, my own letter, acknowledged by the planning office on three separate occasions, was not included and no reference was made to my own specific grounds for objection , which differed from those of the local residents. I have now been assured it will be brought to the attention of members next week but have no way of knowing if this is an isolated incident or whether other objections have also been omitted.

I had never previously attended a Craven planning meeting but my professional career has involved attending numerous such meetings in other authorities over several years and I have to say I cannot recall ever having witnessed such dogged argument in favour of an individual plan by officials.

Early in the meeting they argued for approval, then when the decision to refuse was taken they argued for bringing it back to committee this month to allow the reasons for refusal to be formalised. We now know that has instead become another argument not to refuse.

I hope that, despite having their position undermined in this way by their own officials, committee members will stand firm because common sense is on their side.

After the devastation of the floods of November 2000, it is obvious that the Aire Valley needs more flood plain, not less. It is precisely this kind of piecemeal nibbling away at washland which has endangered existing homes and which will, in due course, lead to increased demands for more flood defences to be built at public expense after the developer has taken his private profit.

The developer at Cononley is proposing to raise the ground level of his site which will, for now at least, leave his own houses safely high and dry but what of his neighbours? Where will the water displaced by raising this site go?

This kind of "I'm all right, Jack" development is precisely the kind of thing the planning system was created to stop.

Terry Fletcher,

Main Road, Kildwick

SIR - I am indebted to Mr Brewster (letters December 24) for dragging us back into the 19th century, which proves that, for some of us at least, serfdom is not yet dead.

I would agree that the tannery owners have provided jobs and houses in the past for the people of the village, but they did not do it out of the goodness of their hearts; they did it to make a profit. Profit in my book is an essential part of a business. There is no point running a business without it, but running a business also brings with it responsibilities.

Not least of these responsibilities is to leave the site, especially one in a conservation area in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, with as little pollution as possible. The various quarries in the area have to do it so why not Brooksbanks?

As for negotiating with the prospective developers, in the first public meeting, when asked what was the minimum number of dwellings they would consider, the developers said 72 - exactly what was on the plans. So much for negotiation.

The parish council, of which I am a member (although this letter is not written on behalf of the parish council), has a duty to reflect the wishes of the parish and I believe that the three councillors who put their names to the previous letter were truly representing the views of the village. Living where I do, I was not able to vote or take part in the meeting.

The process of planning applications being objected to or not by parish councils is really quite simple.

The councillors had to decide whether or not to approve 72 dwellings including three and four storey town houses and a block of flats in a conservation area in a national park, that is all.

Following two public meetings in the village hall, which were very well attended, it was obvious that the people of Embsay with Eastby did not want the development to go ahead.

It is surely right that parish councillors should then reflect those views in objecting to the application. Where the politics of envy come in I have no idea!

As for the headline: "Tannery has been a benefit to the village", one can see the benefits that have been left behind. There is the dilapidated and dangerous building next to the public footpath to Milholme Rise. There is all the pollution and asbestos left on the site, and the main tip itself on Pasture Road.

Peter C Gallagher,

Radcliffe House, Embsay.

SIR - On Christmas Eve morning I saw one of the saddest sights I have ever seen.

A very elderly gentleman had taken a taxi to the Waltonwrays cemetery to place flowers on a loved one's grave.

He struggled to walk with two sticks but managed to carry a bag with flowers in plus the flower container from a grave in the garden of rest. Whilst on his way to get water he dropped part of the flower container (which was when I pulled up in my car).

All the while a young taxi driver, perhaps not of Christian faith, watched. The gentleman graciously accepted my offer of help, we placed the flowers in the vase and took them to the grave.

I cannot help but admire the gentleman's determination and devotion, all the while I suppose the taxi meter was running so it doesn't pay to help the infirm. The driver should be thoroughly ashamed of himself

Susan Stott,

Thornton-in-Craven.

SIR - I have been reading the Christmas Eve edition of the Craven Herald and was very interested to read the article about the Australian Skipton with its platypuses etc.

Mention is made of the quad bikes (sic) used on the sheep stations thereabouts. Although it seems to have become acceptable for farmers' buggies to be given this name, it is quite preposterous to call a four-wheel vehicle a "bike".

Because handlebars have taken the place of a steering-wheel does nothing to alter the fact that "quad bike' is a contradiction in terminology.

In the article the reader is left wondering whether the owners use their buggies to care for their four-legged bipeds which go "baa" or for their four-legged bipeds which go "moo!"

Coincidentally, on page 13 of the same edition there is a picture of "fearless teenager" Matthew Hart riding his unicycle with Ingleborough in the background.

Moving upwards we have the bicycle with two wheels, the tricycle with three wheels so it must be logical to have the "quadrike" with four so how about the Craven Herald taking the lead in becoming journalistically correct?

Richard Johnson,

Leaverholme Close, Cliviger.

Editor's note: Mr Johnson's reasoning is wholly valid, but quad bike is in the Oxford English Dictionary.

SIR - I read with interest the article "Renaissance project in crisis as cash runs out" in which the three top priorities of the Renaissance project were listed (Craven Herald December 24).

The development of the bus station and Cavendish Street car park were as expected but the surprise was the proposed development of new council offices on Coach St car park.

Did the rigorous research undertaken during the Renaissance Market Town Initiative ever suggest that one of the main facilities that Skipton lacked was new council offices?

Moving the offices to Coach St holds no logic whatsoever. Revenues from car parking would be lost, congestion at peak times would be increased on a road that already serves four schools and the consequent effect on businesses particularly on Coach St would be adverse.

The proposal to build new council offices appears to have slipped beneath the radar onto the Renaissance agenda but may I respectfully suggest that funds allocated to improve the town are not misdirected into schemes which would only appear to serve some as yet hidden political aspiration.

Tony Barrett

President,

Skipton Chamber of Trade.

SIR - It would be unfair of me to prolong an argument through your channels, but David Andrews' response (Craven Herald January 2) to my original letter, though strictly accurate, is a little disingenuous.

It may be that his little world is divided into separate entities, but as far as most of the rest of the population are concerned, it is one Tourism Promotion Industry.

It is true that membership of the YTB (Yorkshire Tourist Board) could be had for almost as little as he asserts, but that did not give access to the very much more costly inspection scheme, as he himself infers. Without this essential inspection, none of the tourist offices around the region would advertise one's establishment, charging yet more fees for the privilege.

True, his particular office in York never asked me for 10 per cent from any bookings, but the local offices certainly did.

Methinks Mr Andrews did protest rather too much.

Perhaps he and the other organisations, which he asserts have nothing to do with him should spend a little more time asking themselves why so many businesses such as ours have sampled Tourism Promotion in Yorkshire and have left to set up their own self-help groups, such as the one based in Grassington, and why former employees are accusing the industry of being 15 years behind the times, which is what prompted my original letter in the first place.

If my simplistic mind has failed to distinguish between the various bureaucratic divisions of the industry then I humbly apologise to Mr Andrews and his doubtlessly hard-working staff in York.

Nonetheless, it was certainly they who produced £400 worth of a, to me, profoundly useless business analysis at the time of our purchase.

That still, however, does not answer the main point of my first letter, that as far as I and many like me are concerned, membership of the YTB is a simple waste of money.

Bryn Glover,

The Corncrake, Cracoe.

SIR - I read with interest Mr Coote's letter (Craven Herald December 19).

Offcumdens, how I smile at the word, was the Dales name for servant lasses and lads of the farming community. I have known a few in my time, and great workers they were.

They were hired at Martinmas and Michaelmas hirings at Ulverston and Barrow-in-Furness. The lads and lasses were bid for like cattle and a good lass made £10 for the hiring (six months) and £12 for the lad.

I well remember Mr Syers of Langcliffe, who worked for Miss Tempest, who lived at what we know as Stainforth Youth Hostel. He had many tales to tell. Mrs Tempest went to Broughton Catholic Church every Sunday, driven by a coach and four horse carriage. A livery boy served as a door boy, setting down steps for Miss Tempest to alight. Mrs Bowin, of Langcliffe, came from the north east, marrying and becoming post mistress at Langcliffe.

My dear late friend, Mrs Hoggarth, was a joy to talk to about her experiences at Langcliffe Hall, working for the Dawsons. All fireplaces had to be cleaned out and relit by 7am, then hot water had to be hoiked upstairs for washing etc. She had a huge one candle per week for her personal use in her attic bedroom and if she overstopped at nine o'clock at a village hall function woe betide her, she had to answer to the housekeeper.

Some of our farming readers may remember Fred Eddington and Sally who both came to Friars Head, Winterburn, from Ulverston hirings and were then re-hired year after year. Eventually they managed to rent their own farm near Bell Busk.

They were all good people and tried to please. If they did not, they were sent packing back "up t'hill".

Locals, usually born here, have owned a business for many years. Doctors, nurses and members of local works for half a lifetime - paper makers, quarry workers, hauliers, dairy workers etc. They are kindness itself once you know them.

Newcomers, people who have retired here mostly, want peace and quiet; some love to take part in town matters and are an asset.

As for Rev Richardson, there was no excuse for bad manners to be expressed; he is a man of mature years and always tries to do his best for the community.

Let's wish one another a happy New Year. After all, we who live in Settle are the lucky ones. We are safe, so let's be happy living together.

Edith Carr,

Northfield Crescent,

Settle.

SIR - I am comforted that John Finch should think me amiable and well meaning (Craven Herald, January 2), but sad that he appears to have taken some of the comments contained in my earlier letter personally.

He seems to have either misread or totally misinterpreted much of the contents, so perhaps I might be permitted to put him right on some points.

I do not think I suggested that I disbelieved his claims to have been subjected to hostility as an "offcumden". I simply stated that I, personally, had never suffered from it to anything like the extent that he claimed to have done. Nor was I being nave regarding the recent events in connection with the recent lorries protest; indeed, I actually stated that the behaviour of some towards James Richardson was utterly inexcusable.

Neither did I intend at any time to imply that Mr Finch (or, indeed, Mr Richardson) was one of those "offcumdens" about whom I was complaining, who always have ready, albeit simplistic, answers to the town's current problems.

Nor was I criticising those who do "try to do something about" the lorries or any other issue, provided they do so in a constructive manner. I am well aware of Mr Finch's past contributions to the town over a long period - though it seems that he found some of them less than enjoyable.

As for "taking my jacket off and rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck in", I should perhaps point out that I too was for many years a local councillor and was also a member of the old Community Council, during which time I hope I contributed to resolving several important issues of the day from within the democratic structures.

More recently I have served (and still serve) as clerk to a local parish council and am also the treasurer of a local sheltered housing society. I think, therefore, that I might perhaps claim that I do "take my jacket off and have my sleeves rolled up" for much of the time. Mr Finch is clearly unaware of this, but then I don't enjoy (or should I say "suffer"?) his status as a "local celebrity".

Ken Coote,

South Parade, Settle.

SIR - During the last year the seemingly endless debate about lorries through Settle has continued.

The idea of a secret vote was put forward but it didn't have any publicity, just a small piece of paper in the Settle newsletter. I voted but I don't think many others did.

There is far more danger to our children in the present situation, especially around noon when the lorries come into town. The two Tuesdays over the Christmas period were heavenly - no lorries!

Alright, there has been no major accident but there have been many minor ones not reported. My friend was standing at the bus stop near the kerb when a lorry took her umbrella from out of his hand, breaking it. Just one unreported accident.

The solution is so clear, Settle is a town. It has a bypass and lorries should use it and be compensated by the quarries for the extra mileage incurred. Long Preston, Hellifield and Horton unfortunately have no such solution.

Also, on market day in Settle, it would be a good idea to ban large delivery vehicles from the centre; after all, there are four other working days in the week.

Mrs D Jobling,

Cragg Hill Road,

Horton-in-Ribblesdale.