YP Letters: Fracking '“ voters must give verdict

IRONICALLY, I was speaking about flooding at Leeds Beckett University at the moment the decision to allow fracking in Ryedale was made.

Discussing the way 
forward with people from across Northern England personally devastated by the effects of climate change 
makes it intensely more
real.

Now this purely political decision by NYCC Conservatives gives the green light to an industry that will delay development of – and divert millions of pounds worth of investment away from – renewables and into recovering a new source of hydrocarbons, buoyed by subsidies and tax breaks.

Perhaps those councillors personally responsible think that climate change is a brief, passing phase.

Should we have a little wager on when the next major flood event will occur and its economic impact?

I sincerely hope that the electorate in next May’s NYCC elections will pass judgement 
via the ballot box on this 
woeful example of local democracy.

Many householders and businesses will already find flood insurance unaffordable or refused.

In a similar vein, the majority of insurance companies are 
now refusing to insure fracking risks and the Government 
has refused to implement a bond to pay for any environmental damage.

Nobody explains how this can be if the risks are as low as we’re repeatedly told.

My experience is that the more people learn about the process, the more concerned they become.

Please learn, don’t be
ignorant.

From: Glyn Wild, Highfield Terrace, Swinton.

WHEN we elect our county councillors, who do we feel 
they should represent – us 
or the diktats of the Government?

North Yorkshire County Council’s planning committee meeting to consider Third Energy’s application to hydraulically fracture their 
KM8 well at Kirby Misperton gave a woeful answer to this question.

The chairman correctly 
stated that this “is by far the 
most controversial application that we have had to deal with”. And yet on completion of submissions by all parties, apart from some minor clarifications, there was no debate and no scrutiny.

In moving straight to a vote, the chairman gave the impression that the decision 
had already been agreed and 
that the meeting was just a formality.

Sort out city’s transport

From: Martin Fletcher, Flanders Court, Thorpe Hesley.

ON the letters page I see all the bitter letters about Leeds transport and money wasted. What do they expect?

A left-wing Labour majority who even fail to do anything 
good if it is from the Government.

I worked for nine years at Armley.

I hardly ever went shopping in Leeds because of its transport problems and lack of parking.

Someone, somewhere should be able to sort out a fast decent tram service or open underground system like Sheffield, surely.

From: Paul Hepworth, North Yorkshire Press Officer, Cycling UK.

TOM Richmond (The Yorkshire Post, May 21) had a swipe at the Leeds to Bradford cycle superhighway. If the DfT would only adopt the Dutch mindset of giving greater priority to cyclists at intersections, this could be engineered to an even higher standard.

From: Iain Morris, Caroline Street, Saltaire.

BRADFORD is a far more challenged city than Leeds but Bradford just gets on with it.

Taxing times for councillors

From: Linden Edwards, Ollerton Road, Retford.

IF local councillors are unable to look after their own finances when it comes to paying council tax (The Yorkshire Post, May 28), surely it follows they cannot be trusted to deal with the public finances? These are far more complex and involve far greater sums of money.

Index of confusion

From: Mike Bytheway, Oakwood, Leeds.

NOW the Government is thinking of changing the index used for setting pension funding from RPIX to CPI as the former is too expensive. At the same time, Chancellor George Osborne announced that student loans will be set at RPIX, this higher index being used for students who have little or no income. Clearly a conflict of ideas from the Chancellor.

Motorway conundrum

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

CAN anyone tell me what is the purpose of widening the motorways to four lanes if lorries are allowed to drive side by side in three of them?

One law for all in UK

From: Gerald Hodgson, Spennithorne, Leyburn.

THERESA May is looking the harm caused to communities by Sharia law. Call me naive, but I thought all citizens in this country were subject to British law? What has Sharia Law got to do with anyone in the United Kingdom?