Broadband for all? Not so fast!

Here in Bradley, because we are at the furthest reach of the Cross Hills exchange, many properties still cannot get broadband.

Ironically, the service is available to the most distant properties up at High Bradley, because they are connected to the Skipton exchange. The suggestion to BT that they run some wires down the hill to serve other Bradley properties is met with a sharp intake of breath.

On the subject of access to other modern services, for example, those being heavily promoted by the BBC like digital TV and radio, Bradley is in even more of a black hole.

We can't even get a good analogue TV signal, and FM radio reception is almost non-existent, so the BBC advertisements cause much annoyance round here.

Don't worry, though, the Government is going to switch off the TV soon, so at least that'll be one less thing to irritate us!

Michael Noon,

Crag Lane, Bradley.

SIR - It was nice to read your article about the availability of broadband in the Craven area.

For many of us in the Tosside area who are apparently linked to the Long Preston exchange but are unable to get a decent line to make ordinary phone calls or use a dial-up connection for the internet, receiving broadband is a pipedream.

We are beset by continual clicking on the line, engaged tones before dialling, interrupted calls and often we have days when we have no telephone line at all.

Despite constant fault reports and complaints to BT, we are no further forward. Perhaps the technology used to provide broadband to the rest of Craven could give us a decent basic telephone service first.

Peter Arran,

Crowtrees Park, Tosside.

SIR - Congratulations on your leader in which you made a strong case for the building of another round of nuclear power stations.

The arguments for this course of action have been well made over the last few years and recent events have emphasised their relevance. In summary they run as follows:

1 We are becoming increasingly dependent on gas supplies from unstable parts of the world. Events beyond our control could lead to severe shortages.

2 The planet's reserves are not infinite. As they run down, prices will inexorably go up.

3 The release of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels will inevitably worsen the greenhouse effect.

4 Alternative 'green' methods (ie wind and wave power) are very expensive and are unlikely to generate more than about a tenth of our national needs. Furthermore, they will occupy vast tracts of the countryside and coastal waters.

5 New reactors (we need about a dozen of them) will need little extra land space and will probably be built on existing nuclear sites.

Much hysterical reaction to nuclear power centres around the health hazards. It turns out that amongst the group of men (mainly) who have spent their working lives in a radioactive environment, their life expectancy is greater by about five years and the incidence of cancer is less than the national average.

I should mention that most of my career was spent in such an environment, working on the development and performance of nuclear fuel pins, so I ought to know a bit about it.

The conclusion must be that unless we as a nation get on with building another generation of nuclear reactors, we are going to be not only short of power but will also have to pay a great deal for it.

David Shaw,

Moor Crescent, Skipton.

SIR - I am responding to the 'Dining Out' article by Gerry Allsop (Craven Herald January 6).

I am pleased that Mr Allsop enjoyed his December "walk along the banks of the Wharf and through Strid Wood on the Bolton Abbey estate", along with his meal in the Cavendish Pavilion. However, his jibe at the "hefty £5 car parking fee" deserves to be challenged.

Firstly, the £5 is not a car parking fee but an admission charge for entrance to all the facilities of the estate. These include the Abbey ruins, miles of scenic woodland and river walks along the banks of the Wharfe, as well as more strenuous routes up to the moor tops, to such vantage points as Simon's Seat.

As Mr Allsop was savouring his walk, I wonder if it occurred to him, such things as, what keeps the paths litter free and clear of leaves and other woodland debris, or how the trees appear so well cared for, or even how the walkways can be so safely surfaced to the extent of allowing wheelchairs access to Strid Woods?

Of course, it is the dedicated staff, at all levels, who work hard to make the visitor experience a clean, safe, scenic and positively memorable one, and the £5 goes towards their wages. Further, it is an admission fee of £5 per car, not per person. Try visiting a nearby and well-known National Trust property and you will pay £5.50 per adult and £3 per child or £15 for a family ticket!

Finally, the fact that many people repeat visit, as well as a large number of local folk who purchase annual season tickets, would suggest Mr Allsop has rather misjudged the point.

Colin Jones,

Brackenley Close, Embsay.

SIR - May I through your letters column praise the much-maligned NHS.

Firstly my very grateful thanks to the Grassington paramedic and ambulance crew, who in the first instance surely saved my life after sustaining a massive heart attack, to all doctors, staff of the coronary care unit at Airedale Hospital and to all staff on Ward 1.

Secondly, the surgeons, sisters, nurses and auxiliary staff on Ward 14 at Leeds General Infirmary to whom I shall always be indebted.

In conclusion I would say praise indeed is not sufficient for these hard working, caring and dedicated people whose skill and patience is often taken for granted.

And so to steal the words written on a "Thank You" card spotted at LGI. Thank you NHS for mending my broken heart.

R James,

Threshfield.

SIR - Firstly an apology to your readers for the number of letters which Craven Ratepayers' Action Group is sending in at present; unfortunately it is our busy season, as we attempt to convince councillors that enough is already taken from the purses of the public, and that any increases should be in line with inflation.

Last Friday's Craven Herald (January 6) carried a report from Councillor Weighell, the leader of North Yorkshire County Council, stating:

"It is vital that as many people as possible turn up for public meetings concerning the next budget as possible."

Reasonable enough, one might think, as we pay ever more for county services.

But when are these meetings?

County Hall Northallerton, 2pm. on January 23; Swale House Richmond at 10am on January 23;

And for those living on the Western fringes of Craven?

Not, as one might suppose in Skipton, but - Bolton Abbey village hall at 10am on January 12.

Well I suppose that all those are fine for the retired, unemployed, or those on holiday. As long as they've got private transport of course to get to Bolton Abbey from say Cowling!

Does one dare to suggest that there's a whiff of hypocrisy around somewhere? A smack of lip service to public consultation?

Or that there's going to be an inflation busting increase in our council charges again?

Every poll done on the subject indicates that the public do not want to see increases of more than inflation, how about trying to make for efficiencies in councils and keeping it down to that level, for a refreshing change?

Alan Perrow

Chairman CRAG,

Bannister Walk, Cowling

SIR - Your editorial of December 30 refers to Craven District Council's redevelopment proposals for Skipton town centre and a "determined group hell bent on thwarting any progress".

"Progress." Such a conveniently flexible word, beloved by all politicians, not least at Craven District Council. But as Lewis Carroll's Humpty Dumpty told Alice when she asked the meaning of a particular word: "It means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."

Fortunately the Oxford Dictionary of English is more specific than Humpty Dumpty or CDC. It defines "progress" as "development towards an improved or more advanced condition".

In the context of Skipton town centre, do the council's plans (three multi-storey car parks of up to seven above-ground levels; plus 400 new houses/apartments each with private parking spaces; plus provision for yet more national chain stores) equate to the dictionary definition of "progress"?

Yet Skiptonians would have cause to feel that genuine "progress" has never been on the agenda of some CDC officers and political leaders, who rejected three imaginative, inter-related "Park and Ride" schemes in favour of three multistorey car parks. They also jettisoned a visionary proposal to pedestrianise Skipton High Street.

All these schemes underwent feasibility studies before being proposed by the specialist planning consultants retained at significant public expense to advise CDC on its redevelopment plans.

These abandoned proposals have never been submitted to, or debated by, a any council committee - let alone offered to the people of Skipton as part of CDC's consultation process. Instead they mysteriously vanished from the redevelopment agenda. Would it be "unprogressive" to ask why?

I am not a member of any group - "determined" or otherwise. I do, however, admit to solidarity with those who are - to quote your leader - "hell bent on thwarting progress". Especially "progress" as spurious as that currently proposed by Craven District Council.

Peter Scott-Smith,

The Green, Long Preston.

SIR - Since the plans to redevelop Skipton surfaced several years ago I have followed the plans but kept quiet. So has the Craven Herald.

Were you for it or "agin" it? No way of knowing. Suddenly, on December 30, you let slip, referring to a "determined group hell bent on thwarting any progress". The heart of Skipton was created long before the Voice of the Dales.

I suppose you have to pint your colours to the mast of development. You are a money-making machine, just as the council wants the extra tax revenue and, at present, unseen speculators want the revenue from the buildings, shops, homes, car parks proposed in the plans. That's why the plans will go through.

I say this: the majority of the town and area likes Skipton as it is. Let's improve what we have, not dilute it with more shops. Estate agents and builders are already doing very nicely in the town.

Please give us cheaper parking.

Mrs Robertson,

High Gold, Trawden.

Editor's note: The author must have missed the several occasions where we have given a cautious welcome to the concept of developing Skipton. Our stance is that Skipton needs sympathetic development and we have pointed out that there was once strong opposition in the town to the building of what became its greatest asset - the canal - from people who wanted the town to "stay as it is". We welcome the Dewhurst Mill plans as an example of large scale but beneficial development.

SIR - A number of your correspondents have begged for some hard facts on the matter of our contributions and rebates to the European Union. After this time of festive cheer and parties I appreciate how dry and unappealing this subject is. Perhaps your readers would like to cut out this briefing and read it later in the New Year when, traditionally, budgets are looked at by even the smallest family or business.

What is the current value of the UK rebate? £5.3 billion on the most recent, official figure (for 2004). It is projected to rise slightly to £5.6 billion this year. The Commission says the figure will rise to £7.7 billion a year on average between 2007-2013 if there is no change to the current mechanism. The Luxembourg EU Presidency proposed freezing the rebate at this year's projected figure of £5.6 billion for 2007, before eventually scaling it down.

The UK contributed just under £17 billion to the EU in 2004 (before the rebate), second only to Germany, which has a much larger population.

What is the UK's projected future payments into the EU? The European Commission has set out the projected year-on-year increases in the EU budget for the period of the next Financial Perspective, 2007-2013. Even on the large assumption that the modest annual reductions proposed by the UK presidency are accepted, the EU budget will still have grown by around 33 per cent by 2013. On that basis, one can safely project that, by that time, the UK's annual payment to Brussels will be in excess of £22.5 billion before the calculation of any rebate.

Already, only Germany, with £14.283 billion (2004 figures), contributes more in GNI-based Own Resources than the UK (£12.026 billion in 2004, France contributed £11.150 billion), yet our Government is proposing we pay even more. Yet no one even knows where it goes. Eleven years unaudited! Our taxes rise as our public services decline.

There is no agreement for reform. The intransigence of the French has stalled the World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong. Fatal for us as a global trading power.

The economic and demographic decline with the EU along with chronic unemployment shows it is now terminal not cyclical. It is unreformable. We must leave and leave soon before the whole Byzantine shambles collapses around our ears.

Godfrey Bloom

UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.