How the 'nouveau Dales' folk behave

I made two attempts to pass the car which failed as the driver deliberately accelerated hard on both occasions. On my third attempt I was 'allowed past' but only to be greeted by a barrage of headlights and an offer to pull over, which I accepted - something I was about to regret!

Out jumped an aggressive middle aged woman with a non-local accent who proceeded to give me carpeting on how "we Dales folk" drive. She then went on to tell me that "from my car, my general demeanor and my inappropriate haste" it was quite obvious that I was not familiar with how things were done around these parts.

As someone whose family can be traced back many generations in the dales and who has lived here all my life, I found this just one more irritating example of what's happening to the area.

We are being taken over by "noveau Dales folk".

Many people have relocated to the Dales, however there are a small number who seem to want to impose their mark on everything. They don't want low cost housing, especially if it's proposed anywhere near their property. They don't want the smells from farms and the fumes and noise from the HGVs and quarries, our traditional local employers. They don't want motorbikes on the moors and green lanes, pastimes enjoyed by many Dales folk for generations.

They don't want mobile telephone masts which are essential for many working people.

What they do want is everything just how they like it; however that may be in their particular mind set.

But, like all things in life, you can always spot a fake. Because what these people lack are the essential ingredients that make a true Dales person, the traits of stoicism and quiet tolerance for their neighbours combined with a willingness to thoughtfully evolve.

They fail to understand that the Dales are a living place, here for us all to share and appreciate, people of all classes, creeds and backgrounds, all interests, hobbies, lifestyles and paces of life. If they remembered this, we'd all get on better and the area would maintain its natural socio-economic balance instead of slowly becoming a distorted museum-like back water for the idle rich to paddle about in.

And a final message for this loud minority! Please stop trying to impose your values and opinions on a well established way of life and instead become a part of what presumably attracted you here in the first place.

Andrew Dean,

Chapel Lane, Hebden.

SIR - In response to a letter in last week's Craven Herald by a Mr Ormondroyd please could I, make the following comment.

We do not need a park and ride scheme in Skipton. Companies with large workforces should have to provide a scheme for there own employees at their own expense - not mine. My council tax bill is high enough already.

People should start to realise that Skipton is not York; we do not need cycle lanes on Gargrave Road, or perhaps the madness that's started will see them on every road and street in Skipton.

We do not need traffic lights on every road junction stifling the flow of traffic, we nead to realise Skipton is a viable market town, not a suburb.

Andrew Smith,

Moorland Close, Skipton.

SIR - I would just like to make a couple of points regarding the reporting in your newspaper of the jailing of Miss Agate.

I am glad that your newspaper is covering stories relating to Miss Agate, but was saddened at the headline of the latest article refering to her getting her wish to be jailed.

The actions that Miss Agate carries out are done with the deepest belief that what she is doing will bring about a more peaceful world and she has obviously decided to make sacrifices, including that of her own freedom. The majority of people in this country would not be prepared to do so.

No-one wishes to go to jail, but she has accepted that, sadly, in these times, the legal system cannot see that they have an obligation to uphold international laws to which the British Government is a signatory. Every citizen has the legal duty to uphold these, and therefore she must break certain British ones to uphold the greater international laws.

I would also like to comment on the fact that when reporting her imprisonment she was refered to simply as 'Agate'. Such a dehumanising practice is inappropriate. To want peace can hardly be considered to be a criminal offence.

In peace.

Jenny Gaiawyn

Hardy Meadows, Grassington.

Editor's note: It is Craven Herald style (and also that of almost all newspapers, radio and television channels) that those who appear as a defendant in a crown or magistrates court are referred to by their surname. The Herald does not judge on the merits of each case but simply applies a blanket policy in each case.

SIR - Phew! Glad that's over. It took quite a bit of effort to cut a track 400 yards long and three feet wide in a field of green wheat and all because someone complained the footpath was overgrown.

I admit this to be the case. It would have meant a detour of an extra hundred yards to walk round the perimeter of the field, (and this would only have been until September) really quite an extra distance if you are out for a four mile walk!

In my experience of hikers, they rarely stick to a footpath anyway regardless of its width.

It wasn't the hours of toil, sweat and petrol clearing the footpath which concerned me, but the wasted wheat, (useless being green).

Had it been allowed to ripen it would have made 100 loaves of bread. Just think what that could mean to a starving village in Africa!

If in this land of plenty, if food became scarce, farmers and productive land may even get a little consideration.

Edwin Butler,

Croft Close, Giggleswick

SIR - As an importer I would dearly love to see the Euro operate in this country.

Having watched the pound drop 14 per cent against the euro we are constantly having to check our pricing, (no, our prices have not risen 14 per cent!) And that is work for which there is no reward.

Recent conversations with suppliers in Greece, Spain and France have each concluded with the individual speaker stating "it is the worst thing our country has ever done - avoid it" - joining the Euro that is.

Personally I agree with these guys, we should avoid it.

My desires are selfish. A little work to adjust exchange rates, be it in business or on holiday, is nothing compared to having Brussels get even more say in how we run our country.

Bob Wright

The Wright Wine Company

Raikes Road Skipton

SIR - Having very much enjoyed a splendid evening of music last week, the performance by Emma Johnson and John Lenehan, I was amazed and dismayed to read your critic Adrienne Fox's review in Friday's Herald.

As a concert-goer over many years and familiar with the works she berated, I found it hard to understand that we had both attended the same concert. I consider her comments mean-spirited, condescending and unjustified.

I think the reception that the performance received from what must be described as a discerning audience, would support my judgement of the evening's music.

Judy Ariss,

Linton Falls, Linton.

SIR - I would strongly disagree with the review by Adrienne Fox of the concert given by Emma Johnson and John Lenehan at the Grassington Festival.

For me, and everyone I spoke to, it was a stunning and memorable performance by both artists in both halves of the programme.

Adrienne Fox speaks of the music in the first half being "academically contrived or faked (I wonder what this means) the drama marred by a squawk in the upper register", where was the musicianship?, she asks.

Well, I would say there was musicianship in abundance, and personality to go with the body language. Many years ago I heard both Jack Brymer and Gervaise de Peyer play the Brahms Sonata. I think they would have been more generous in their praise of this performance had they heard it.

Christine Bell,

Badger Gate, Threshfield,

Editor's note: As we have said many times: a review is an honestly held opinion. There is little point reviewing anything if the author is expected to produce glowing praise even if he or she is less than impressed. Readers need not be dismayed if they disagree.

SIR - I was amused by the contrast between two of your recent editorials.

"Cynical attitude will cost us dear", you say in one, referring to the Renaissance Market Town project.

"Stand by to repel crackpot scheme" you advise in relation to the idea of a possible regional assembly for Yorkshire.

You have apparently decided, before much of the detail has been agreed, that the latter is a "time wasting exercise" which is "simply unwanted, unnecessary and utterly uninteresting".

Why follow the example set by the worst tabloids in parading your prejudices before the debate has even really started? Why not encourage a discussion of the pros and cons in your paper, before then offering us your considered view shortly in advance of the referendum?

There is much that I need to know before I would vote "yes" in the referendum: about the proposed powers for the new assembly and what it will cost us. Nevertheless it is clearly not simply a crackpot idea. As the White Paper made clear, the English regions outside London are virtually the only regions in Europe which do not have some kind of regional representation, with powers devolved from the centre.

Quite rightly you raise issues about the effect such an assembly will have on the present local government arrangements. There are however a number of unaccountable quangos also with powers in relation to highways, environment, learning , and skills, that might more appropriately be taken over by an elected regional assembly.

Where did you gather your evidence that "voters closely identify" with Craven and North Yorkshire Councils? I have often heard it suggested that the Government discriminates unfairly in favour of metropolitan councils in relation to shire counties like our own. Compared with that central control, why do you assume that a Yorkshire assembly, probably based at York I understand, will necessarily ignore the needs of its tourist areas around Skipton?

You speak with pride of a campaign 30 years ago "to keep this part of the world out of the clutches of Bradford Met", and yet I believe that a survey of your readers in Silsden and Steeton would now reveal that the services they receive from Bradford are at least as good as those provided in North Yorkshire.

I think it is unworthy that at this stage "the Herald will mobilise opinion against regional assemblies." I believe the approach you recommend in relation to Renaissance Market Towns would be far more appropriate: "Skipton may well live to regret treating the .....project with its usual mixture of lethargy, indifference and cynicism. Let's wait and see before we make a judgement." Exactly!

Bob Adamson,

Fallowfield, Skipton.

SIR - So, Mr Burgan has received 124 letters or messages of support and no objections for his proposed care home development in Sutton. Could one enquire as to what exactly the support is for?

Is it for his specific planning application, the one that was rejected by an overwhelming majority by the Craven planning committee or is it for the general idea of a nursing home?

If asked as to whether a derelict brownfield site should remain as it is or have a nursing home built there that will secure the jobs of the Royd Hill employees, I am sure that most people would be supportive.

However, if asked "Do you want a nursing home and a 55 bed block of flats resembling a Victorian type workhouse building with all the congestion problems and loss of privacy etc it will cause?" the response may be somewhat different.

If Mr Burgan had taken the time to meet with the residents of the Crofters Mill estate, he would have found that the people on the estate were supportive of a nursing home.

However, despite several requests, he declined to talk to the people who would be directly effected by the development.

If Mr Burgan had actually paid attention to the articles and letters published in the Craven Herald or listened to the objections raised at the planning meeting, he would have again found that the residents of the Crofters Mill estate were supportive of a nursing home. However he would prefer to portray us as an isolated bunch of "Nimbys" opposed to any development, rather than Sutton residents with legitimate concerns that he prefers not to address.

As to finding out what the "true feelings of the Sutton community" are, I would have thought that Sutton Parish Council would have been an effective barometer for the village and they opposed the planning application.

The objections against the planning application have always been directed against specific aspects of the development design rather than the purpose of providing a nursing home.

I would therefore like to ask if Mr Burgan would be prepared to revise his plans so that it realistically addresses the concerns of those families living adjacent to the development?

If, for example, Mr Burgan decides to put forward a development based around a 60 bed nursing home plus retirement bungalows I am sure that he would have the wholehearted support the Crofters Mill estate. I would have thought that a bungalow with its own garden would be a far more appealing way to spend one's retirement years than being confined to a block of flats.

However the cynic in me wonders if the revenue from low-density bungalows would be sufficient to make it quite so appealing to the developer. For all the talk of providing for the needs of an ageing population, I suspect that underlying motives come down to how much money can be made from the development of this site.

Steven Harker,

Crofters Mill,

Sutton in Craven

SIR - Having been awarded the MBE, I would like to say a big thank you to the many people who have spoken to me, sent me cards and telephoned.

Some years ago I put forward Norman Hodgson's name for an honour but got no reply.

I think he should have had an award.

Betty Patchett,

Westmoreland Street, Skipton.

SIR - I have just received notice of the next Settle Renaissance meeting on June 30 and summary of events so far. I went to the previous meeting.

There seem to be many laudable ideas but several significant omissions:

a) Who is this body of people ("John Thompson & Partners has (sic) been working with the community" - presumably self-appointed and self-selecting) setting out an image for Settle 50 years hence. There is already a democratically elected body in Settle - the council; how much influence do they have in Settle YF/Renaissance policies.

b) There appear to be many good ideas (pedestrianisation, tranquility, low-cost housing, tourism, training) in the framework thus far. There appears to be little mention of infrastructure development that will drive economic growth for the next 50 years: roads (with all its controversial issues), railways (which could alleviate some of the road problems), and most importantly for the next generations, a high-bandwidth telecommunications backbone, which should not hurt those that don't want it and immeasurably help those that do.

c) What is the cost of this Yorkshire Forward exercise; what impact will it have, and why will the YF/Renaissance exercise succeed where others have already trodden (e.g. Erskine).

I would urge everyone to attend on June 30.

Allan Gould,

Higher Halsteads, Settle.