Police use of speed cameras

The issues of speeding motorists raised in these letters must be viewed in the wider context of road safety generally across the county, which is not the sole responsibility of the police, although we do of course have an important role to play.

In North Yorkshire we police 6,000 miles of mostly rural roads and cover 1,000 or so villages and communities, with a limited number of officers and resources .

At the present time the force uses patrol cars equipped with cameras and hand-held radar for speed enforcement because, with this flexibility, we can target specific areas at specific times to address specific issues. All this equipment is in excellent working order. In addition, we also have the option to use these cameras at specific, fixed, road-side sites. These roads carry the "speed camera signs" referred to by Mr Scott-Smith, and are in themselves an active deterrent in reducing speed. As with road accidents, we would rather prevent them than prosecute after the event.

Your readers should also be aware that fixed safety cameras can only be installed subject to the requirements of specific criteria. Not every road or village in the county would qualify.

However I am grateful that these issues have been raised through your columns. I will ensure they are discussed at the next Traffic Management meeting which is scheduled for January 24 at which representatives of the police, County Council and other agencies discuss county road safety issues.

I am more than willing to provide your readers with the partnership response, should one of your reporters care to arrange an interview.

Carmel Napier

Detective Chief Superintendent

Head of Specialist Support,

North Yorkshire Police.

Editor's note: The interview has been arranged.

SIR - The Craven Herald of December 27 carried a report on Bradley Parish council and the outline drawing which had been received for the canal swing bridge at the village.

Concern was expressed by members of the parish council about sirens and traffic lights. The point of replacing the swing bridge is to make it safe for the public to operate and for road traffic to pass in safety.

For some years now this bridge has been unsafe to operate and has resulted in boaters being injured opening and closing the bridge. Also, I believe there have been one or two near-misses of vehicles ploughing into the canal.

North Yorkshire County Council is responsible for the maintenance of the bridge and has a duty of care to the public; failure to maintain the bridge for safe operating or to provide a warning to road traffic when the swing bridge is being operated could cost the county council millions of pounds in claims for compensation.

The work of replacing this bridge is safety work: safe for the boaters to operate, safe for road traffic to pass over and if North Yorkshire is required by law to install warning sirens and traffic lights then it will have to be so.

The railway level crossing at Cononley has barriers and traffic lights.

Alan Holden,

Marlborough Road, Accrington.

SIR - The Craven Herald has highlighted the disruption to local rail services caused by the current series of strikes by conductors belonging to the RMT union.

As a voice for rail users we greatly regret the inconvenience the strikes are causing to travellers, and also the damage being done to the industry.

But there is some good news for users of the Leeds-Morecambe and Leeds-Carlisle lines, namely the special Winter Offer to Dales Railcard holders, which continues until February 2. For just £3 cardholders can travel anywhere on the two lines - all day if they like.

And during the rest of the year the card offers a reduction of a third off most normal fares, with a flat rate of £2 for children. The card costs £10 and can be obtained at Skipton, Settle and Appleby stations. It is available to residents of postcode areas that include BD23, BD24 and LA2.

LASRUG has been pressing for many years for improvements to the Leeds-Morecambe service, but the hopes we had of extra trains are still unfulfilled. Unfortunately everything is now on hold while bids are invited from would-be operators of the new Northern Rail Franchise.

In the meantime, we hope readers will use the local rail service as much as they can and so help us make a strong case for the improvements it so clearly needs.

John Bearpark,

Chairman, LASRUG,

Northfields Crescent, Settle.

SIR - I would like to respond to the letter written by Mr Finch, of Settle Chamber of Trade, in respect of my letter which referred to the impact of Booths supermarket.

It should be remembered that Mr Finch gave up trading and closed his shop and workshop some months ago and became a salaried clerical worker, explaining to remaining traders how to improve their businesses and trading practices.

Whereas I am still battling on, trading and offering a friendly greeting, and I do not need to be told by anyone how to motivate myself.

Before coming to Settle, I worked for 20 years in industry in sales, purchasing accounts, wages, production control and what used to be called personnel.

I ran my own business for a further 15 years and was chairman of a successful guild of craftsmen. My husband was chairman of a group of companies and his job was to keep several thousand men and women in work. He dealt with captains of industry, ministers of the Crown, peers of the realm and princes of the blood - I was on the fringes of this highly powered world. Don't judge me by my wacky clothes!

If Mr Finch puts his ear to the ground he may be able to discern the sound of traders who are worried and concerned (not negative) for the continuance of their businesses who, like Mr Finch found some months ago, do not have the resources or time to await the improvements he forecasts.

I have expressed my own views but they have been flavoured by the views expressed by other traders.

My own figures show a downturn for this year, April to December, of 10.1 per cent compared with 2001 (the foot and mouth year) and 16.2 per cent compared with 2000. In the two month run-up to Christmas my turnover was down 33.7 per cent. This is not the small national figure quoted in the media.

Sandra M Price,

Proprietor, Artisans,

Station Road, Settle.

SIR - I cannot let your editorial of January 10 ("Locking up is not always the best option") pass without comment.

Your paper is supposed to be non-political. You could have fooled me by the tone of your editorial and the reference to "those seeking to make political capital" from the recent sentencing proposals for burglars.

You state that prison serves two purposes - firstly to punish and secondly to protect the public. Should it not also act as a deterrent not only to dissuade others but also to satisfy the public that their safety is the concern of government and to persuade them not to take the law into their own hands thus leading to anarchy?

I fear that we are not too far from that situation.

If there is a shortage of prison accommodation this can easily be solved by providing additional cheap facilities. Large, permanent, high cost buildings are unnecessary.

Camp style prisons with nissen huts and perimeter wire is all that is required. Many of us occupied nothing better during the war and we were not criminals. Drug addiction can equally conveniently be dealt with in the camp.

As to your comments on Jeffrey Archer, do I detect a note of intellectual snobbery here? Or even envy? He was not, and has never claimed to be, a literary novelist, but he was a best-selling author whose books sold by the million and gave pleasure to very many people all over the world.

We have a national tradition, apparently now little observed, that you do not kick a man when he is down. He did no harm to any individual - only to the miserable tabloid rag against which he fraudulently claimed damages, and now he is paying the price for that, so far as I know without complaint.

RP Watkin,

Hetton.

SIR - I wonder if I am alone amongst your readers in growing sick and tired of your left wing politically correct editorials.

Your latest one of the Lord Chancellor's views on not jailing burglars takes the biscuit. In this column you state "There are those who seek to make political capital out of his remarks". I suggest to you that this is arrant nonsense.

If we are to believe polls taken in the national press and on television, there has been a reaction of outrage against both the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice.

You proclaim weekly to be the Voice of the Dales. If this be the case I suggest that you venture out into the real world and relate the views of the vast majority of your readers and refrain from giving us re-hashed versions of Guardian leading articles.

Maurice Ridge,

Highgate,

Park Road, Cross Hills.

SIR - Your article skate park meeting' (Craven Herald, 10 January 2003) needs to be corrected.

The statement, that the Authority has agreed to provide some land for a skate park in the Colvend car park, is not correct.

Yes, the National Park Authority will be having a meeting on 22 January with all parties who have an interest in the proposal for a skate park in the car park, including the parish council, the bowling club, the youth club and the police, to discuss the idea. However, this meeting will be taking place at 4pm and not 2pm as stated.

At this time this meeting is no more than a chance for officers of the authority to find out more about the proposal; no decision has been taken. The meeting will help gather information and find out more about what is envisaged and what the implications would be for others.

Once this meeting has taken place a report, with all relevant information, will go to members of the authority's Property Committee so that they can then take a considered decision on the proposal.

Alan Hulme,

Regional Manager,

National Park Authority,

Colvend, Grassington.

SIR - From time to time, myself and some friends keep doing "bits and bobs" for various hospital units and illness-related causes.

However, without the kind contributions of you wonderful people out there the end results would be far less impressive.

I refer to those particular instances where we have topped up the coffers to a greater or lesser extent in Skipton and neighbouring hostelries.

Here then are the impressive figures for the year 2002.

Skipton's Shortbank Olympics on behalf of Candlelighters (fighting children's cancer and leukaemia at St James' Hospital) - £1,033.

Skipton v Scousers Golden Oldies football match on behalf of Marie Curie Cancer Care - £3,003.

Candlebikers Black Hatters cycle ride on behalf of Candlelighters (Upper Wharfedale's pubs were also involved in this effort) - £2,600.

And finally, my Builder's Friday come Christmas Eve bash - or dash, call it what you will - on behalf of Candlelighters (this also embraced the pubs of Addingham) - £1,236.

Anyone reasonably up with their maths will note that these efforts total close on £8,000.

You can have the best organisers in the world, the best banterers or the best bucket collectors in the world but, without the people who contribute the actual brass, the entire population would be worthless. It was also, to a great extent, the same revellers who filled the individual sponsor sheets for the footballers and cyclists.

The pattern has been little different in previous years. Indeed over the past 13 years the Skipton v Scousers football matches for a wide variety of charity causes and the Candlebikers Black Hatters events for Candlelighters have between them raised £66,000.

On behalf of pals and fellow organisers of the various events, may I convey a massive thank you to all who have again kindly contributed. Thanks also to the respective mine hosts and managers who have allowed the collection bucket on their premises. You really are a wonderful crowd.

Roger Ingham,

Aldersley Avenue, Skipton.

SIR -Further to the letter of Kathleen Kinder (Craven Herald January 10) about the Christingle Service, it was held in 1747 but was called the candle service.

The British province of the Moravian church adapted it at least 100 years ago. The Fulneck Moravian Church in Pudsey has celebrated it for 80 years. The symbol was altered to denote the world, the light of Christ and fruits of the earth.

In 1968 the Children's Society was wrong in thinking the Christingle Service had just arrived in Britain. They acknowledged this when approached by the Moravian provincial board.

I was a chapel servant for many years before moving to this area. My husband's maternal family can be traced back to the early archives at Fulneck, founded 1754. It was a simple most moving service especially when, in a darkened chapel, the children with their Christingles glowing turned to face the congregation and sang the traditional Moravian carol "Morning star, O cheering sight".

No gimmick here, I assure you.

Rita Wade,

River Place, Gargrave.

SIR - The Antiques Roadshow last Sunday, screened from Clitheroe (our near neighbour) was a great disappointment as to the presentation and context.

I was there and thoroughly enjoyed my day and was shocked by the intro (Jimmy Clitheroe?) when one knows of Pendle, Edisford, Downham, Sawley, the river Ribble, the lovely old town, castle, et al).

The non showing of beautiful and interesting items seen that day was a shock. Where were they? Without exception, people who attended and who watched Sunday night are unanimous in their surprised frustration.

I know the BBC have to present what they regard as entertainment but this it was not! Boring, boring, springs to mind and on that score I take up arms for Clitheroe.

I was on screen as were family members, so it is not sour grapes, just sadness at opportunities missed for what is a fabulous area and an always kindly welcoming town. Michael Aspel told me that it had been one of their best and most interesting days. Does he say that to everyone? Probably!

Irene Stacey,

Earby.

SIR - Through your letters column I wish to thank the honest person who handed in my debit card at Morrison's supermarket.

It is so refreshing to know that there are people who do abide by the codes of human kindness. Today we hear too often of the bad things which are happening in the world.

Thank you again for returning my card.

S Hodgkinson,

Kirk Lane, Eastby.