Leave Skipton High Street well alone

Whilst a fresh eye can bring forward new perspectives and a questioning mind to challenge the "well it's always been done like that" attitude, this can be a very mixed blessing.

I moved to Skipton the best part of two tears ago, having spent all of my childhood and most of my adult life in Blackpool. On the surface there might not be much in common between a large seaside tourist resort and a market town on the edge of the Dales. Looks can be deceptive because both share the problem of regular large influxes of visitors, some there for just the day others longer, how to get them in and out of the town efficiently and keep them amused whilst they are there. It is just a question of degree.

I know that the remit will be broad ranging therefore I would like to concentrate on, through my own personal experiences how to or more specifically how not to deal with, the oil and water conundrum of people on foot in a town centre and people in motor vehicles in the same town centre, in this case the area of Skipton between the Castle and Caroline Square: the High Street.

There was quite recently a consultation document produced and distributed by the local council. Some of the effects of the decision to implement part of that scheme can be seen today at the junction of Keighley and Carelton Roads where traffic lights have been installed and where remedial work, to correct an obvious planning oversight, is being undertaken as I write.

Another section of the "plan" dealt with the market area. The stalls are sited on the setts or cobbled stones which separate the pavements on either side of the road and the road itself. These areas are used the rest of the time for car parking with a time maximum.

Various options were put up for reflection covering the whole gamut from doing nothing at all to farming the market out to the edge of the town and many other ideas in between including making the High Street pedestrians only. Fortunately nothing was decided, or so I believe, at that time.

Any body to survive needs a healthy beating heart. Skipton has a healthy beating heart, its High Street. A High Street with all the major banks, a variety of shops which are unique to Skipton ranging from the smallest selling the most exquisite pork pies and cooked meats to a full blown department store unheard of nowadays in a town this size and of course the street market. All this with people on foot and people in vehicles going about their business. A lively throbbing town. Visitors flock to see it.

Most of them live, or exist, in towns and cities where they are surrounded by the relatively new uniform appearance of the face of modern Britain. The shops are the same wherever you happen to be.

Skipton has its national brands of course but they do not strangle it.

The people come here because it is different. You don't have to go too far away to see the results of the downside of pedestrianisation. In nearby Nelson, Scotland Road, once the main shopping area now paved over, is awash with a sea of 'To Let' and 'For Sale' boards.

It is not alone, my home town, Blackpool, has beautiful buildings once housing flourishing shops, banks and other enterprises, which are now empty or have been turned into cheap novelty shops and burger bars.

Obviously not all this can be put down to ripping up a piece of tarmac and replacing it with flag stones. The centre of Leeds has been transformed, Bradford has not, well certainly not for the better. For, too often, what passes for a busy place to be during the day becomes a no-go area at night for any but the most reckless of souls. Skipton attempts to tease with a car free High Street during the annual Sheep Day. I have to admit that the novelty of walking in the middle of the road appeals to me, but not for very long. It has no soul. The bustle of the crowded street is dissipated, the shops are open but there is no excitement. Skipton becomes just another town.

Please leave the High Street alone. To quote Winston Churchill, "It is not perfect but it's the best we've got".

Christopher Mills,

Tufton Place, Skipton.

SIR- I read with interest your report Craven Herald (May 30) on the discussion held at Craven District Council meeting on the subject of dress code.

I find it most unfortunate that, as you report, it should cause much hilarity amongst the councillors. It seems to me that a great deal of the problems beset by the country these days is due in no small measure to the steady erosion of standards and a lack of discipline which is an integral part of maintaining standards. Once basic standards are allowed to slip, the rest easily follow.

What I find especially sad is that Coun Paul English, also the Mayor of Skipton and representing the people of the town, should have such an attitude to standards.

It would appear from your report that he holds to his own personal standard of "I'll do what I like".

Perhaps he should be reminded that he is elected to serve the people.

He implies that people feel disenfranchised with local government because issues such as dress standards are discussed in council meetings. I think he might find that the feeling of disenfranchisement is more due to a lack of confidence in councils to perform their duties in a manner beneficial to the community as a whole. There is the scourge of politics within local government which prevents sensible decisions being made and, above all, the ever-increasing demand for money from the ratepayer for an ever-reducing return.

Arising from Coun English's comments, however, there is one possible solution to the problem which I understand is taxing the brains of the local authority's legal department.

This is the vexed question of where and when should the Skipton Mayor be allowed to wear his robes of office. Have there been any complaints about this being discussed in council? The solution which springs to mind is that Coun English could wear his skirt and flip-flops to his official functions if that is his idea of suitable standards.

K Oxley,

Hall Croft,

Skipton.

SIR - It's Thursday night at the Swan Inn, Carleton and, as usual at 10.15, four aging old rockers come in for their vocal lubrication and to set the world of local music right. This unlikely looking quartet includes a property developer, pest controller, full time musician and a chiropodist.

All together they make up Skipton's longest surviving local live group 'Custer's Last Band'.

Now they may not have had the success of the Rolling Stones, but they have kept rocking away for more years than most people can remember. Following trials with different formats over recent years the band is now back to its favourite and most successful four-piece line-up: drums, lead guitar, bass guitar and harmonica, with all members providing vocals.

The roots of 'Custers' as you can gather from the name, are in country music, and the current line-up has moved back to these roots. However, because of the experience in the band, they have developed programmes to provide Irish or 60s and 70s rock nights.

Now comes the problem that sees the band gaining more wrinkles and grey hairs as they ponder their beverages in the Swan.

They practise every Thursday at a small farm on the moors above Carleton, annoying no-one except the sheep, which they say, actually enjoy the experience! But where is there left to play?

The band play gigs in Workington, Rotherham, Huddersfield, but where in the local area?

The Cross Keys in Skipton has kept its commitment to local bands, and Custers have a regular spot, but the years have seen a decline in the use of live bands in local pubs and clubs, which were the backbone of learning for live musicians when our quartet started.

If you have backing tapes, with plastic sounding drums and professional backing singers, you can set up your small amount of equipment, sing along in the background and still enjoy many venues. I am not saying that there are not some excellent solo artistes about, but what about real live music? The sort of music where the drummer can see an attractive lady come in and miss a beat? Where the lead singer gets hiccups and forgets the words? Where the music is natural, raw and reliant on talent and enthusiasm. Where the band enjoys what it does and it shows?

Gladly, this year, with the foot and mouth restrictions lifted, there will be the country shows back, galas etc and the likes of Custers can rock the night away again.

Let's face it, what would the gala procession in Skipton be without Custers at the rear? At least you know that when you hear them, and see the fire engines, you know the procession is at an end! !

What do you think? Would you rather see live artistes than backing tapes?

Harry Metcalfe,

Moorview Way, Skipton.

SIR - Once again the Craven Herald has published a letter from a lover of the Dales who is appalled at the damage and nuisance that is being inflicted by motorcycles and 4X4 vehicles.

Perfectly reasonably, given the alarming scale of the problem, Mr Michael Jones feels that the National Park Authority ought simply to prohibit off-roaders from leaving the tarmac and driving and riding along green lanes that were obviously never intended for modern motor vehicles.

Unfortunately, the national park has no power to apply such a prohibition.

It is bound by archaic highway laws that make no distinction between the horses and carts for which the tracks evolved, and the modern recreational motor vehicles that now use them.

The best the authority can do is to join with North Yorkshire Highway Authority - which does have the legal authority to apply restrictions on rights of way - and encourage it to apply 'Traffic Regulation Orders' (TROs) that forbid the passage of motor vehicles that have no bona fide need for access along the tracks.

The TRO process is cumbersome. It has to proceed painfully slowly, track by track. And its results fall far short of what most Dales residents and visitors want - namely, a complete legal ban on off-roading in the national park.

But TROs are all that we have until Parliament enacts a general law that will preserve the heritage of unsurfaced tracks from motor traffic.

Later this summer, the first, experimental, TROs, on four of the most damaged tracks will come into force. When they do, it will be helpful if people who encounter off-roaders who disregard the prohibitions will report the violations to the police.

More TROs are required if the pleasant green lanes that we used to know, and the peace and quiet that we once took for granted, are to be restored. But in the long run, the law needs to be changed.

The Yorkshire Dales Green Lanes Alliance campaigns both for more energetic application of the limited powers that the highway authority already possesses, and for eventual changes in highway law.

Dales opinion, we believe, has turned decisively against off-roading in the national park, and we seek to give voice to that opinion.

Michael Bartholomew

Chairman,

Yorkshire Dales Green Lanes Alliance,

Civic Centre, Cross Green,

Otley LS21 1HD

SIR - I wholeheartedly endorse the sentiments expressed by Michael Jones in his letter entitled Vandals on wheels, but would like to couple with them the maniacs on motorcycles who frequent our roads, particularly at weekends.

My daughter-in-law was forced off the road by one of these morons on Saturday afternoon.

She was driving from Settle to Hellifield with her three young children to visit us and when approaching Long Preston, a particularly narrow stretch of road marked with double white lines, was confronted with one of these idiots, who was travelling at excessive speed overtaking a line of cars. Obviously he and his companion behind had accelerated as soon as they spotted the de-restriction sign regardless of anything coming from the opposite direction.

If my daughter-in-law had not swerved into the verge it would probably have been curtains for him, since she was driving a much larger and robust vehicle, but this didn't bother him, since he never hesitated to see if she was all right. She was so shaken by the experience that she had to sit in the car for several minutes before she could drive again and she was still very distressed when she arrived at our house.

What angered me, in addition to the incident itself, was that none of the drivers of the cars in the line of traffic that had been overtaken bothered to stop to see if she and the children had been injured, although they must have witnessed what had happened.

I sincerely hope that if this person, who must harbour suicidal tendencies, comes to grief soon he does not involve any other law-abiding motorist. I also suggest that the police re-commence their "round-up" activities now the A65 is open again.

We get bleatings from the biking fraternity from time to time about how most of them are careful, law-abiding riders; if this is so I can only suggest that they themselves do something about weeding out these fools who drive with complete disregard for their own and other road-users safety, then the general public might not be so prejudiced against them.

As for me, I agree with Michael Jones. These people don't come to the Dales to enjoy the scenery, since they don't linger long enough to enjoy it; they just come for cheap thrills and adrenaline rushes.

PJ Lister,

Hellifield.

SIR - Another year of Skipton Gala is nigh. The small, hard-working gala committee has done an excellent job preparing throughout the year.

Last year the public were disappointed about the procession; the parade split leaving a big gap. This sometimes can happen.

A majority of the public walked away thinking the parade was over. Fred Dawson and his wife and helpers do their best to keep the parade intact but what the public don't realise is that it's a hard job.

Skipton needs this one day event. There's enough doom and gloom in people's lives today so come and support the gala.

The gala characters of the past are sadly dwindling. The younger generation need a push to get them to dress up and get involved in the procession. Galas are to participate and compete in, after all it is only one day each year.

Allan Mason,

Jennygill Crescent,

Skipton.