Energy versus conservation

NORTH York Moors planners are not alone when they decide whether the protection of the natural environment and the opportunity to harness new sources of energy are mutually compatible – this is a mirror-image of the growing national debate about fracking and the extent to which conservation policies should take precedence over key infrastructure projects that will help to keep the lights burning.

This was illustrated recently when George Osborne’s father-in-law David Howell, the Tory peer and Energy Secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s first Cabinet, 
had the temerity to suggest that fracking should be carried out in “desolate areas” of the North East as opponents of the practice took part in a major protest at a test drilling site in 
a leafy West Sussex community.

If Lord Howell’s argument is then taken to its logical conclusion, Britain’s national parks – including the North York Moors – are suitable for developments, like the proposed potash mine to the south of Whitby or the plan to extract gas from beneath Ebberston Moor near Scarborough, because these areas are not densely populated.

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Yet, as the Viking UK Gas Limited scheme for Ebberston Moor comes before park planners this week, the potential of this scheme to extract sufficient gas to power up to 40,000 homes each a year – roughly the size of Scarborough – will have to be balanced against the fact that this is one of the iconic landscapes which has seen tourism become Britain’s fifth most lucrative industry.

This will be a test of government planning laws which require developers to explore the viability of alternative sites before advancing schemes in Britain’s national parks.

However this may not apply in this instance – this is an existing site that has been dormant for 40 years – and it will be up to planners to see if they can put in place sufficient safeguards to appease the conservation lobby.

If they can find a way to exploit Yorkshire’s valuable natural resources while protecting the wonder of the environment, they will have performed an invaluable service to the energy and tourism industries – two sectors of the economy that cannot be ignored.

Bakery lessons

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MARY Berry has provided much food for thought with television series like the Great British Bake Off – she has inspired a generation of people, from David Cameron to hardworking families trying to cut their weekly food bill, to start making their own bread and other delicacies.

As well as economies of scale, there is also a nutritious value to home cooking – families, and budding chefs, are far more likely to cook with fresh ingredients, including locally-sourced produce, and this will enhance the future health of an increasingly obese society.

That said, the celebrity chief needs to consider the practicalities – both in terms of time and money – about her call for all children to be taught to cook 10 full meals at school as part of an expanded national curriculum.

While there will be benefits to some youngsters, particularly those brought up on an unhealthy diet of ready-meals and take-aways because their families do not have the time or inclination to cook, should teachers – already surrogate parents to many – be expected to take on even more responsibilities?

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Take Dewsbury’s Thornhill Community Academy, the location of Channel Four’s thought-provoking Educating Yorkshire series and emblematic of secondary schools around the country as teachers prepare their youngsters for key GCSE exams. Just how is headteacher Jonny Mitchell going to find the time – and money – to introduce compulsory home economics lessons for all when this fly-on-the-wall documentary has shone a disturbing light on ill-discipline in schools?

Perhaps Mrs Berry would like to explain how she expects teachers to show young people “what’s good for them, how to buy it and how to make a few dishes that they enjoy and don’t cost too much”. She will find that it is not as straight-forward as loading a bread-making machine and pressing the “on” button.

A Titanic tale

IT is hard to comprehend how passengers on RMS Titanic were serenaded by bandmaster and violinist Wallace Hartley as the stricken ship sank in the Atlantic Ocean after hitting an iceberg during her maiden voyage.

Yet this was still an age of deference and the response of passengers and crew members from a full spectrum of social classes remains an endless source of public fascination 101 years after one of the 
world’s worst maritime tragedies.

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This was self-evident yesterday in Dewsbury, Mr Hartley’s home town, as historians took advantage of an unique opportunity to see the musician’s violin – it had been an engagement gift from his fiancé Maria – and the leather case in which he placed the instrument shortly before the ship sunk.

Described as the “Holy Grail” of Titanic memorabilia, together with the music sheets that were recovered from the sea, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this story is that this fragile musical instrument survived while its owner was among 1,500 people who perished.