HERE we go again! The mad accountant with the razor sharp axe is back at work looking for cuts and zooming in on the quiet citizens of Craven.

Just what makes Craven favourite for bearing the brunt of the axe is a mystery. Perhaps this mad accountant got stuck behind a tractor on the A65 at hay making time, or was served a dodgy pint in one of the district's hostelries.

To be serious, bit by insidious bit, Craven's services are being stripped away. Last week we reported on how Skipton hospital's ward, closed "temporarily" last year, was never going to open again.

This week it is our sad duty to report not one but two more services which our masters in Northallerton deem to be too expensive for Craveners. First they want to remove the emergency fire tender at Skipton station which serves the Dales as a cost cutting measure. And the second blow is the decision to remove all records from Skipton registry office to Harrogate. Not very convenient for the many genealogists in the area.

Where will it all end? The transfer of all major facilities to York, Harrogate or Northallerton is turning Craven into a sort of Albania.

Next on the shopping list is the proposed boundary review being conducted by North Yorkshire police. One option is to strip Craven of its independence and turn the Skipton-based division into an adjunct of Harrogate. Local folk can be forgiven for taking the cynical view that today's proposal and public consultation is simply prior warning of tomorrow's action.

Turn up at the public meeting on Tuesday at 7pm in Skipton Town Hall to persuade North Yorkshire's chief constable that this would be a cut too far.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.