Trader calls for more council support for the town

Mr Goldie has, in fact, understated the issue and, compared to the provision made by other authorities for business, the businesses of Craven are getting poor value for the rates they are paying.

Under the system of the Universal Business Rates it must be remembered that businesses in Craven pay exactly the same rates as businesses in other authorities yet get a fraction of support that other councils give.

Mr Goldie quite rightly points out the inadequate level of car parking in Skipton.

This is undoubtedly putting a brake on retail expansion within the town, particularly on Saturdays, and the sooner adequate affordable provision is made the better.

Yet it does not end there. Other towns seem to afford town centre managers and have an adequate marketing budget which seems not only to provide advertising but also provides for events which attract shoppers into town.

Turning now to the thorny question of the Christmas lights. In other authorities traders can expect the vast majority of the money to be supplied by the district or unitary council and, in addition, entertainment is provided by shoppers.

On the subject of tourist information, almost universally this function is undertaken at council or unitary authority level and now that Skipton Town Council has failed to maintain the service, Craven has the responsibility to pick up the pieces.

I am not expecting the situation to change overnight; however it is important for Craven District Council to address these issues and start rectifying them in the next financial year.

Paul Smith,

Paul Smith China,

Victoria Square,

Skipton.

Don't blame trucks

SIR - In response to the correspondence over the last few weeks regarding trucks out of Settle, I am dismayed to see in Friday, September 29 Craven Herald a comment that 20 businesses are up for sale and more ceasing trading every month, quoting quarry trucks as a significant factor in this supposed demise.

As chairman of Settle Chamber of Trade, I feel that I must point out that Settle is probably suffering from what I would call "market townitis".

That is to say that market towns throughout the United Kingdom are having to review and rethink what they have to offer local communities and tourists in the way of shops, facilities and attractions.

It is therefore incorrect to infer that trucks through Settle are responsible for shop closures and businesses up for sale.

One has to bear in mind that we live in an age of constant change: communities change, people change, shopping habits change, so, consequently, Settle has to change in line with what is needed.

To this end, the chamber is holding an open meeting for all local businesses, with the agenda being "a total review of where we are now and where we would like to be in the future". This includes promoting Settle to the outside world and playing more of an active supporting part within the community.

I would like to point out that shops change hands and close for many varied reasons eg last year, the last independent butcher's shop was deemed lost and closed due to retirement - remarkable isn't it that for a dying town, Drake and Macefield are very successfully running a thriving business?

We have an excellent range of retail outlets, some long established, some less than 12 months old, all with their own individuality.

This is a positive face of Settle, others being strong community input eg tourist information centre - one employed person, 30 volunteers, a voluntary cardboard and waste paper collection to supplement Settle swimming pool, several groups of people who work their socks off to present things like the Sheep Shambles and the festival this year, not to mention a group from the chamber who give of their time to ensure the Settle Christmas festivities are a very successful event.

The latest development is a community workshop concerning the future of Settle, attended by more than 50 people, coming together to explore how to initiate action in obtaining funding for the Settle region from Europe. A steering committee was set up, so watch this space!

It is a fair comment that heavy goods vehicles through town and village centres are not compatible but what we all have to bear in mind is that each and every one of us has a right to earn a living and I would hope that one group should not be able to dictate to another.

We are all aware of the problems and I would put it to you that these can only be resolved by all parties communicating as part of a strong community forum.

Tony Price

Chairman,

Settle Chamber of Trade.

Other factors

SIR - Settle recently held an election for a vacancy on the town council, the first for several years.

One of the candidates, Paul Raistrick, wrote to the Craven Herald a few weeks beforehand, expressing his support for the Trucks out of Settle campaign and asked for residents to vote for him in the election. He got 89 votes out of a total of 530 cast - hardly overwhelming support.

The candidate who got the most votes, Barbara McLernon, was the one that people knew and who knows them, having taught the likes of Kevin Lord, Linda McGeoch and myself, who understands their concerns.

I would challenge Andrew Fawcett's claim that trucks are "a significant factor" in businesses ceasing to trade. What evidence does he have?

Because, as somebody involved with tourism, it has most definitely not been my experience that visitors do now want to come back to Settle.

Yes bookings are down (the UK self-catering market is down by 20-30 per cent) but that has more to do with the strength of the pound, making it cheaper for Brits to holiday abroad and expensive for foreign tourists to visit the UK and nothing whatever to do with trucks going through Settle.

However, I'm sure the Trucks out of Settle Action Group won't let a few hard facts stand in their way.

Jeanne Carr,

Midland Terrace,

Hellifield

Peace at last

SIR - Settle Centre will be closed to traffic for three weeks. Peace and quiet for three whole weeks!

If anyone can think back to the last time we had this respite, people in the town were noticeably relaxed and would stop and talk on the pavements and in front of shops; they could hear themselves and others speak and did not need to shout.

There was a noticeable increase in the number of pedestrians and mothers with children.

Whom did we thank for this unpolluted atmosphere? One could say the lorry drivers but they say this so-called diversion cannot be sustained without help.

Three capable groups spring to mind for this help: the highways department to make the road round easier to use; the town council to help with support and transition and the quarry company with remuneration.

This will surely help the action group to achieve their ideas of caring for the environment and establishing a thriving economy with, as they put it, "a diversity of business and enterprise".

I look forward to this and the quieter period in October although I am sad that it has the status of an event.

Ken Hill,

Duke Street, Settle.

Sad news

SIR - I am writing with sadness after the news (in your paper September 22) about further job losses at Swinden Quarry in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

It is sad both for those involved and also for the National Park, whose protection was compromised for the sake of economic short-termism a relatively short time ago.

At the time environmental bodies, including the Council for National Parks, argued that national policies dictated that an extension to the quarry should only be granted if a national need could be demonstrated.

The quarry produces crushed rock aggregates, a plentiful supply of which is available outside the Yorkshire Dales. The Dales also has a land bank of consented reserves of crushed rock of more than 46 years. Unfortunately Swinden Quarry will be extended, on the back of very few jobs, until 2020.

The natural beauty of the landscape in the Dales is one of the region's greatest economic assets - and its protection must take the long view.

At last week's Association of National Park Authorities' conference in Skipton the repeated message was that the National Parks have a key role to play in social and economic regeneration: the jobs that are needed are those that conserve and enhance National Parks, not those that destroy them.

Vicki Elcoate,

Director,

Council for National Parks.

Dual standards

SIR - I write to you in response to an article in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph concerning the £5 million bid for new primary schools in Burnley.

On the very day that the statutory notices for the closure of Rainhall Road Community Primary School were posted, some of the officials and councillors concerned with that decision were photographed with their faces wreathed in smiles celebrating the good news for Burnley.

Have they no shame?

In the article it states that primary education in Burnley suffers from "old buildings and falling pupil numbers". The enormous number of 1,700 unfilled places is predicted in four years time. Ofsted has also identified some schools in Burnley as having serious weaknesses or requiring special measures.

The response to this is to build new schools in Burnley.

Although there are old schools in Barnoldswick, the prediction for unfilled places in four years is less than 100. There are no schools in Barnoldswick requiring special measures or having serious weaknesses (recent criticisms of educational standards at Rainhall Road School seem to have been based on one year's SAT results only).

The county council's response is to close a school in Barnoldswick.

A Burnley councillor is quoted as saying "we want a fair deal for Burnley which other parts of the county have already got".

I would like to think that the children of Barnoldswick deserve the same educational opportunities as children in the rest of the county.

Nigel Walker,

Parker Street, Barnoldswick.

Safety plans

SIR - The one way traffic loop advocated by County Coun Mike Doyle will increase pedestrian safety and increase traffic flow.

I would also advocate a mini-roundabout at the junction of Broughton Road with Cavendish Street. This would necessitate extending the mini-roundabout into the corner of Great Mills car park.

Another mini-roundabout is required at the junction of Keighley Road and Cavendish Street. The route from Broughton Road via Brewery Lane and Brook Street to Gargrave Road should be made one way, in the direction of Gargrave Road.

A pavement could then be made from Broughton Road to the canal swing bridge.

The sooner these roadworks are carried out the better it will be for both drivers and pedestrians.

Alan Shorrock,

Park Wood Drive,

Skipton.

Weeds growing

SIR - Over the last three weeks I have anticipated removal of grass and weeds from the setts of Skipton Town Hall frontage.

At the time of writing, nothing has been done - a disgrace to the High Street.

I might be a bit old-fashioned and turn a blind eye and think to myself "It'll be reight, nobody's bothered about the frontage." But, like many citizens and tourists, I am proud of Skipton High Street, having worked in and around it for 40 years.

The frontage to the Town Hall has been excellent all summer with flower tubs at their best. But over the last three weeks grass and weeds have grown making the setts look like a derelict piece of land.

Craven District Council can have no excuses. If there is no money for workmen then ask Neil Kershaw's community service lads to get their backs down there. Failing that I will loan Craven two nanny goats to nibble the grass away over the night and get the council sweepers to clean up the droppings in his everyday work.

Allan Mason,

Jenny Gill Crescent,

Skipton.

Doing their best

SIR - Through the Craven Herald the forecourt staff at our garage would like to thank the 99 per cent of our customers who used our garage during the days of the fuel shortages.

Their patience and good humour was appreciated.

To the other one per cent, go forth and think about it.

The ills of the world and the price of fuel are not our fault.

We hope our new and old customers will still support us after the problem sorts itself out. We maintained our supply and price as long as we could for everyone.

And a word about safety. Prohibiting the use of mobile phones on garage forecourts anywhere is laid down by regulations, not the whim of the forecourt staff. Petrol gives off fumes. You may see the flash, you may remember hearing the bang.

Please turn off mobile phones before entering onto any petrol forecourt.

Forecourt staff,

Lyndale Garage,

Skipton Road, Gargrave.

Public owns land

SIR - It was most infuriating to see your story "Settle supermarket's new year start" (Craven Herald September 29) when the public have still to be told the answers to the following question.

Who sold off Bond Lane Field to the developers and pocketed the money? Indisputably the Bond Lane playing field belongs to the people of Settle, who should get the money.

When the Ombudsman investigated it should have been the duty of the police to suss out the reasons behind the sell-off. Instead the developers assume ownership of the public property. When the case was brought to the High Court, the judge struck it out because we, the objectors, brought no evidence of theft from the people.

The same thing also applies to Castleberg Hospital in Giggleswick, flogged off by the NHS, and the Norweb abandoned site on the Sowarth Estate.

The insult is that it is all done anonymously by unaccountable accountants who have assumed the right to plan the landscape to suit themselves, quite ignoring alternatives and the public. They should have produced proper explanations of what, why and who for so the public can understand. And there would have been hard evidence showing ownership of these properties, which no-one can dispute belong to the people of Settle and Giggleswick.

RD Leakey,

Sutcliffe House,

Settle.

A promise kept

SIR - The restoration of senior citizens rail cards has come about as a result of the Conservative group's manifesto at the last district council elections.

We promised to bring them back if we gained a majority - this is the fulfilling of that promise.

We were always opposed to their withdrawal. I don't understand the quote of Coun Place that it is the result of "people power".

Coun David Crawford,

Conservative Group Leader,

Craven District Council.

Dreams dashed

SIR - To the person who stole my son's brand new mountain bike on Wednesday September 27 from the High Street.

Thank you for breaking a 13-year-old boy's heart. He worked for six months before and after school to buy himself a £300 top of the range mountain bike and a heartless thief has left him heartbroken.

He is still not over the loss of his bike; he worked for two weeks to buy himself a proper cycle helmet and new lights. Well, he is left with his helmet and lights but no bike.

I hope you are proud of yourself. I cannot afford to buy him another bike and despair at people like you.

Written on behalf of my son.

Allan Ewles.

Hurrs Road, Skipton.

Motorist blamed

SIR - Surely the most outrageous item of the whole fuel protest business is Gordon Brown's assertion that motoring taxes pay for health and education services.

These services are used by the whole population and should therefore be paid for by everyone according to their financial circumstances.

The days are long since gone when anyone who runs a car had to be a wealthy person. There must be many like myself, especially low income pensioners, who have to go without a lot to keep a small vehicle on the road because the alternative of no or very poor public transport is worse.

The spectacle of the Government and the oil companies each blaming the other for high prices at the pump would be laughable if it were not so infuriating - just like two scrapping kids disputing who hit the other first.

Motoring taxes should be levied to cover the direct cost of services for motorists, plus something over for things like the policing required on account of car use.

As for the self-styled environmentalist, I wonder how many of them do without their own cars, or have any intention of doing so - I suspect they just want to get rid of the people's cars to leave the roads clear for their own.

And isn't it about time somebody looked into the origin of this global warming scare, blamed of course on the car.

We had two very hot summers in 1988 and 1990, thereafter little but the usual damp, misty mixture.

I well recall the early advertisements of the so-called Friends of the Earth, all aimed at deprecating the private car, not even the lorry, jet plane etc. What scientific qualifications had these people, who started them and who funds them?

ME Price,

Heather Cottage,

Farnhill.

Path complaint

SIR - I am writing to complain about the path leading from Airedale Avenue to the railway bridge on Otley Road in Skipton.

It always seems to be muddy and boggy. I have also noticed that there is a stream that runs through the grass and mud.

As I am writing to complain, I thought that you could put my idea forward to the council and do something about this problem.

Elfie Louise Higson,

(aged 10),

Wensleydale Avenue,

Skipton.

Editor's note: The complaint has been forwarded to the council and we hope to report back on a resolution at a later date.

Clarification

A letter published in the Craven Herald of September 22 was purportedly signed by G Aldersley of Meadow Way Barnoldswick. In fact Mr Aldersley wishes it to be known that he was not the author of the letter. We apologise for any embarrassment.