YP Letters: Chris Packham should stop meddling over Yorkshire grouse shooting

IT is unfortunate that BBC presenter Chris Packham sees it as appropriate to associate with Luke Steele, spokesman for Ban Blood Sports on Ilkley Moor.

One has to wonder whether Mr Packham has even stepped foot on Ilkley Moor and talked to those that have been responsible for its restoration over recent years, or whether he is content to campaign on the basis of hearsay alone.

Perhaps Mr Packham is also unaware that Ilkley Moor, which is part of the Bingley, Burley and Ilkley Moors Partnership was the 2015 winner of the Purdey Gold Award for conservation through improving game bird habitats and the biodiversity of their land on Ilkley Moor. The council doesn’t have the money to manage the moor, so why not let the shoot do it?

The Countryside Alliance has been working to break down barriers between people who shoot and people who do not, and last summer we arranged a walk on Ilkley Moor for the Bradford CHA Rambling and Social Club. Chris Packham should stop using his celebrity status to meddle in areas he does not fully understand, or else face losing his very lucrative contract with the BBC.

From: Andrew Gilruth, Director of Communications, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust.

GROUSE shooting is the only management system that explicitly maintains and enhances one of the rarest habitats in the world: heather-dominated moorland.

The traditions of grouse moors are being challenged, and this is healthy. However, if BBC presenter Chris Packham wishes to replace it, perhaps he could share the evidence that his alternative will be better.

Bradford Council will need to know the net gain – economic, social and environmental – before changing the complex and wonderful habitat on Ilkley Moor.

County deal won’t work

From: Lionel Pyrah, Cambridge Street, Normanton.

IN regard to the Yorkshire devolution issue, we now hear that Leeds’s politicians intend to create a ‘coalition of the willing’ with the majority of the county’s leaders. I therefore pray they all now receive a swift infusion of common sense instead.

In my view, a single devolution agreement, with or without a mayor, would be an unmitigated disaster. Firstly, there is no guarantee that a Yorkshire deal would lead to the county’s economic output doubling over the next 30 years.

On the contrary, any Government allocation will no doubt have to be spread rather thinly to accommodate the likes of York, Hull and Scarborough, for example, leaving Leeds with a much reduced share of the butter.

I firmly believe that Leeds will do itself irreparable economic damage if it takes the risky ‘county’ route. To stand aloof and alone for the sake of misguided county loyalty would be folly indeed – and totally unforgivable.

From: David Lloyd-Williams, Norton, Malton.

HAVING recently seen estimated costs of upgrading the York northern bypass to a dual carriageway estimated at 
£105m, and the improved Hull Dock facilities at an estimated cost of £50m, I find Neymar’s £200m football transfer totally obscene.

What is happening to our world when improvements to two major access points, and which will benefit so many travellers, equate to less than one football player moving from one club to another?

From: John Appleyard, Firthcliffe Parade, Liversedge.

THE Government has broken its promise to fix train services in the north of England.

In the same week, the Government promised billions to improve train services in London.

For years the Government has pumped money into transport in London, while people in the North have been left with slow services and uncomfortable journeys.

I don’t begrudge people living in London having fast, reliable trains, it is about investment being shared fairly around the country and us all having a decent transport system, wherever we live.

Sorrow over fallen heroes

From: Canon Michael Storey, Healey Wood Road, Brighouse.

I WRITE this on August 4, the day in 1914 that Great Britain declared war on Germany. Various events have been and are taking place this year to commemorate various anniversaries of the Great War. I was very privileged to be able to go to Oppy Wood, North East of Arras on May 3 this year, exactly 100 years since my father, Private W.B. Storey, a Hull Pal, had been taken prisoner there. I stood by the war memorial to the “Kingston upon Hull Pals” and shed a tear.

I went along to Tyne Cot Cemetery, hence I did appreciate the two programmes on Passchendaele on TV, and your splendid cover in The Yorkshire Post. Your heading “One hundred years, tears still flow for fallen heroes” applied to me, as I watched on TV.

Oh that those horrors would really cause the nations of our world to spend more time on “jaw jaw” and not “war war”, as Winston Churchill said.

Payroll abuse

From: DS Boyes, Upper Rodley Lane, Leeds.

MANY have expressed concern over salary levels at the BBC, but that is a matter only for staff and employer. However, what does count is that in times of austerity so many BBC personnel are being allowed to evade tax by being paid off-payroll.

All the more surprising is that this practice was supposed to be banned around five years ago. Why is HMRC appearing to turn a blind eye to such abuse?

As ever, it’s one law for the rich, another for the poor.