OUR report of the Kirkbride family, who faced eviction from their home in the national park will send a frisson of horror through the Dales.

The family bought their home in all innocence back in 1995. What they were not aware of was that technically they were breaking the terms of a 1967 agricultural occupancy condition - meaning it could only be sold to a bona fide agricultural or forestry worker. It was only when the family applied to build an extension that the original condition came to light.

There are many homes in the national park area which were built expressly to house farm workers. But once those farm workers move on and the house is up for sale, the condition remains.

How many others could find themselves in the same boat, forced to sell their homes but only to what is officially classed as an agricultural worker, an increasingly rare specimen? And just how many agricultural workers would now be able to afford the market price of a home in Appletreewick? Had the condition been enforced, the Kirkbrides would, in all likelihood, have had to sell below market value and thus be unable to afford a house of similar quality in the locality.

Happily justice and common sense prevailed; Mr Kirkbride might not be an agricultural worker under the strict definition of the planning regulations but he indubitably works in agriculture and a compromise legal agreement has solved the problem. But one wonders, however, how many others may have unwittingly purchased a property and fall foul of the agricultural worker condition.