Why we have to cut bus subsidies

The debate is important, and wide-ranging public discussion is vital. May I, as the elected member responsible for public transport at North Yorkshire County Council, lay out some facts which will help to explain the background to our review of subsidised rural buses.

The county council has significant contracts with bus companies to provide a network of routes which would not be sustainable if left to the commercial sector.

North Yorkshire currently subsidises 160 different contracts. It is only right that we keep these under the closest scrutiny, and get best value from them.

During the financial year 2006/7, the County Council will invest more than £5 million in supporting rural bus services. This is more than we are spending in this current year.

There will continue, however, to be a shortfall in overall funding as we balance the needs of other essential services such as working with vulnerable older people. Meanwhile we face rising costs passed on to us by the bus operators.

I believe that the consultation exercise carried out by the county council over the last two months has been important. It has generated over 1,000 responses.

Of course I, like the vast majority of respondents, want to continue to see rural bus services with the highest level of support possible; but many people have also expressed concern about buses with either no passengers at all, or very few. For example, one of the contract services under the review is worth £86,000. It carries a subsidy per passenger of £18.18, and the average number of passengers per journey is three.

We have a duty to the taxpayer to ensure that we spend wisely what money we have. Indeed the end result of the review, as the public report will show, proposes that only 10 contracts will be affected.

Very few North Yorkshire residents will be disadvantaged. Everyone can be reassured that we are spending their taxes as sensibly as possible.

There will be some amendments to time tables and fare structures on other routes; but the fact is that North Yorkshire County Council will continue to provide a very good network of rural bus services over a large land area, so much of it very rural.

We will continue to champion other ways of keeping North Yorkshire moving, such as community based transport which can be more responsive to actual demand.

For the future, I intend again to ensure that we have an early dialogue with all interested parties, in particular with parish councils, whose opinions we value so much, to identify how best to use the money available to us.

I believe that this is a shared responsibility and that by working together we can achieve the best results.

Sadly, in the political world we live in, opposition politicians can always find easy pickings from ill-informed observation and so raise fears unnecessarily.

I believe that the results of this consultation are a success, at a time of starvation of funds for rural communities from central government. Despite rising costs and ever-increasing diktats, the Conservative administration at North Yorkshire County Council has produced overall plans which make the best use of the money we receive from our residents. I am sure that the communities we serve in North Yorkshire will see the sense in what we have concluded.

Coun Clare Wood,

Executive Member for Environmental Services,

County Hall, Northallerton.

A vital facility

SIR - News of the impending closure of the public toilets at Malham is not only short sighted but, I believe, based on entirely false findings of a review by Craven District Council officers.

The reason given is that the toilets in the centre of the village are duplicated by toilets in the YDNPA car park.

It is the norm nowadays to provide toilets at car parks and bus and train stations so the provision of toilets in the car park, much more recently than the council-run toilets in the village, is a logical consequence of the setting up of Malham's only paying car park and are no doubt sized to suit the capacity of the car park they serve.

National park policy however is that, in order to restrict the numbers of visitors, car parks and their associated conveniences are not sized to meet peak demand. This policy doesn't work in practice as visitors are attracted by the appeal of the location rather than by the capacity of car parks or public conveniences.

Even on an ordinary weekend with indifferent weather conditions the YDNPA car park falls well short of providing sufficient capacity for the number of walkers and day trippers visiting Malham.

On weekdays during term time it is the norm to see four or five busloads of children visiting Malham - 200 or so children and teachers wandering round the village and environs. On a good weekend in summer a field may be opened up to absorb some of the overflow which alone outnumbers the capacity of the YDNPA car park while cars are squeezed in everywhere in the village and its approaches where a free parking space can be found.

A review by CDC officers has confirmed the blatantly obvious - that under these circumstances, by no means the exception, the use of the village toilets is high. In fact - it is heaving! The argument that the village toilet is duplicated and therefore redundant and must be closed is rubbish.

The Listers Arms duplicates the Buck Inn - should one of these establishments be closed?

To add insult to injury we are told that the proceeds from the sale of the toilets are to be used in the refurbishment of the council's retained toilets in Craven. Again, this is rubbish. The proceeds from the sale of this tiny piece of land will not pay for the cost of the Craven District Council toilets review, let alone make an impression on any refurbishment work identified by it.

The real reason for the proposed closure is CDC's neglect in not adequately maintaining the toilets over a number of years, resulting in their present run-down state, a fact that Kirkby Malham Parish Council has been protesting to the district council for over a year.

Malham and its surroundings is one of Yorkshire's and the nation's most treasured attractions. Its freedom from commercialisation and urbanisation adds to the enjoyment of its natural splendour.

It is featured regularly on TV, radio and the press and is internationally renowned. Imagine the impression that will be given when, from next month, at the start of the tourist season, the toilet doors are locked by CDC because it can't afford to maintain them!

Even more so when this petty act of bureaucratic vandalism against the countryside is seen in the context of CDC's plans for smart new headquarters in Skipton.

The correct solution is for CDC to find the funds to redress their past neglect of an essential asset by paring back their expensive, redundant bureaucracy, restore the toilets to an acceptable level of decency and hand them over to Kirkby Malham Parish Council to maintain.

Sandy Tod

Chairman,

Malhamdale Initiative,

Friar's Garth, Malham.

SIR - So Bob Wright suggests Skipton might carry a stigma for its charity shops (Craven Herald, February 10).

Isn't that a bit strong? Does he know the definition of the word?

All Skipton's charity shops are well presented, they do sterling work for the causes they represent and do not deserve this slur.

Might I suggest two things that Skipton needs to address - the first being those who choose to drink in local pubs and cannot be bothered to use their toilet facilities or wait until they get home and see Skipton's ginnels and doorways as suitable to relieve themselves?

The other matter which affects all Skiptonians and visitors alike are the constant purse snatchers. People living locally at least read your paper and can be made aware of the risks but for too long there seems to have been a conspiracy of silence presumably to play down the real problem that exists in this respect as many of its victims are visitors.

How many visitors go away remembering the trauma of purse theft of a passenger on their coach not how many charity shops there were?

C Allam,

North View Street, Keighley.

SIR - Stuck behind one of the council's huge road sweepers as it trundled its way from Gargrave to Skipton picking up a few tab ends and the odd toffee paper whilst the ditches and hedgerows alongside remained full and festooned with beer cans, part eaten takeaways (you name it, it's there), my thoughts turned to "Brian the Brush", Grassington's one man cleansing department.

Maybe he should have a quiet word with some of the guys in those big offices and explain what cleansing is really all about.

Ray Potter

Low Lane, Grassington.

SIR - With reference to the new aircraft hanger at Threshfield, I think it looks big enough to house a space shuttle.

The church opposite resembles a space ship and the bus stop at the Yorkshire Dales car park looks like a launch pad.

There is also a new, shiny, galvanised structure which has suddenly appeared on the roadside of Hebden Road which resembles a missile or rocket.

Perhaps if we collate all these futuristic monstrosities we can somehow launch this missile at those planners who are responsible for them. The only consistent thing about our planning committee is their inconsistency.

Richard Paul,

Carr Farm, Arncliffe.

SIR - Last week's Craven Herald reported that there had been no UFO activity reported over Lancashire for the whole of 2005.

Having seen the "aircraft hanger" being constructed at my old school in Threshfield for myself, it is quite clear what those little green persons (don't want to upset the PC brigade on Planet Quark) have been doing to desert the skies over Barlick and Colne.

They are now packing their little green nick-nacks ready for the flit to their new base at Area 51, Upper Wharfedale. They might be able to travel vast distances in their spaceships but where are they all going to park on match days at the rugby club?

Flipping offcumdens!

Wendy Milner

Church Street, Gargrave.

SIR - May I through the Craven Herald say a thank you to the two firemen who came to our home, a Mr Lambert and colleague?

They did an inspection and gave us good advice and also gave us an electric chip pan and blanket. They were very kind and respectful.

Also thanks to the Craven Herald for advertising the offer to contact the fire station.

Mrs P Reynoldson

Greenway, Glusburn.

SIR - May I, through your column, express concern for mail going astray from the Post Office box in the Co-Op on Swadford Street?

Two letters posted in this box (along with several others) did not reach their destinations. In January a card was posted to me in this same box and has not yet arrived.

The customer service department at Bradford cannot do anything except apologise, but urge other people to contact them should they experience the same problem.

Mrs A Turner,

Hillside, Skipton.

SIR - Seeing as how the old centre of Embsay is to be spoilt by the new development where the old tannery was, I have a good idea.

A block of flats (and houses) are to go up so why doesn't the National Park (chairman, Carl Lis) which showed no thought for the village, work with Craven District Council (leader, Carl Lis) to get the builders to put up a multi-storey car park next to the flats? There'll be lots of extra traffic in Embsay so why not a park-and-ride for Skipton as well? What's a bit more spoiling to an already spoilt village?

Mr R Krasner

West Lane, Embsay.

SIR - I notice that a decision about the proposed speed cushions and tables on Salisbury Street will be made at the next Craven Area committee meeting on March 23 and there is a conflict between the findings from the consultation and the consensus when the plans were advertised.

Whilst it may be believed that there have never been any accidents this is not the case.

Only last week there was a screech of brakes outside our house and the smell of burning rubber and the tyre marks on the road surely meant there had been another near miss.

There are a significant number of young children on the street and a number of drivers appear to ignore the speed limit.

There has been an accident - albeit without causing anybody any harm - about four years ago a Land Rover sped down the road at about 6pm on a summer's evening and had to brake hard. It came to rest at right angles across the road.

The fact that it did not hit anybody or anything was due to good fortune and nothing else.

I suspect that the suggested damage to vehicles, reduction in house prices, increased pollution and noise put forward as objections to the traffic calming scheme may just be a smokescreen to the real reason - that it will reduce the parking spaces available to the residents.

Whilst I can appreciate the desire for people wanting to park outside their houses and that the speed controls may affect this, the fact they cannot do this is to my mind a small price to pay for preventing death or injury to a child, which I believe will surely happen if some form of traffic calming is not introduced on the street.

Dave Walker,

Raikeswood Road, Skipton.

SIR - On the night of February 23 I left my car on the car park on Keighley Road trusting it would be safe.

A small crowd of youngsters in their early teens were gathering and I did feel slightly apprehensive about leaving my car but did.

On my return from the pictures around 10.45pm, with more vomit scattering the pavements, there were also goods from my previous shopping. The boot had been opened and various groceries taken and scattered. I did ask one of the groups of teens if they knew where the rest of my goods were but to no avail.

I rescued a few items and left somewhat cross that the behaviour seemed to have gone unnoticed by staff at the nightclub opposite. Around my car was the smell of glue.

I realise the area is up for redevelopment but does it really have to get to this stage first?

Mrs RA Jowett,

Hebden.

SIR - It was with much pleasure that I accepted an invitation to see Carleton's pantomime last week. I was not disappointed.

However, I felt it a pity that this group, which has potential, has to make do with such inadequate facilities. I know how difficult it is to find suitable premises especially when finance is not available to pay for the hire of a hall.

There were so many performers on stage at various times which made movement extremely difficult and I feel it is a credit to them that they were able to give any kind of acceptable show at all.

I'm told that this group is entirely self-funding and does not receive any outside help with finance. The hall was full on the evening I was there and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. I wish them luck with future production and, maybe, as time progresses, better facilities.

Mrs E Cardwell,

Bobbin Mill Court, Steeton.

SIR - In reply to your article 'Farmers collected lion's share of compensation' last week, only the farmers whose stock was infected with the foot and mouth virus and those contiguously slaughtered were compensated.

The ones not infected but affected by all the Government restrictions were not compensated in any way.

On the contrary, they were left high and dry with no income for almost a year to fend for themselves as best they could. They were treated contemptuously by Defra.

Phyllis Capstick,

Old School House, Hellifield.