YP Letters: Dales barns should be homes for local families and young people

NEWS that roadside barns in the Yorkshire Dales National Park may be converted to housing rather than left to decay is welcome and long overdue, but only if those homes are not then sold on the open market.

There is no other way in which they can be protected from becoming second homes, holiday lets or homes for wealthy retirees, and can instead be made available for local people on average incomes.

The proposed “conservation levy” of £25,000 is a drop in the ocean in relation to developers’ profits, and in any case would simply be added to the price of the property.

The homes need to be owned by a charitable trust, a not-for-profit body, which could ensure that they are let at subsidised rents to local people in housing need. Until recently, a housing association could have taken on that role but the recent introduction of the right-to-buy from associations removes that option.

Talk of “prioritising the needs of local people”, as your editorial did (The Yorkshire Post, March 5), is just that – talk – unless the ownership is structured in such a way that profit is not the primary motive.

The National Park and North Yorkshire County Council need to be bold and innovative and, if they can succeed, they will earn the gratitude of all other national parks.

Housing is too important to be left to the private sector, which is only interested in profit.

Let cyclists pay for roads

From: Peter Horton, Ripon.

I WAS astonished to read the outrageous suggestion of “cycling ambassador” Chris Boardman (The Yorkshire Post, March 7) that the Government should add 2p per litre to the price of petrol to finance road improvements for cyclists.

The British motorist pays vastly more in taxes than is spent on the roads and I cannot believe the sheer effrontery of this proposal. Cyclists use the same roads without paying a penny in any form of tax or insurance and I suggest that, if cyclists want road improvements for their benefit, then they should pay for it.

Raising alarm in Rotherham

From: John A Martin, Westfield Close, Hotham, York.

REGARDING the letter from John Watson (The Yorkshire Post, March 2) in respect of the sex crimes in Rotherham.

While agreeing with most of what he states, I would remind him (and also the many sections of the media) that the people who originally “blew the whistle” on the fact that young white girls were being groomed and passed round from town to town by mainly Pakistani men were the Keighley MP Ann Cryer and the then BNP leader Nick Griffin who informed the Blair government over 17 years ago.

I wonder how many young girls could have been spared if the Blair government had heeded the advice? I suspect Ann Cryer was told to keep quiet while Nick Griffin was shouted down.

Lost for words over Trump

From: Brian H Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

I THOUGHT I had heard the nadir of political debate when Republican campaigner Donald Trump responded to criticism by former candidate Mitt Romney by claiming that he owned a single store that had made more money than Romney. Until, the next day, when he replied to a critic by boasting about the size of his penis.

No wonder European political commentators are at a loss for words about the level of debate. His popularity only confirms what I had thought about conservative America.

Scotsman’s wrong shape

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

THE article “Most Famous Name” in Picture Post (The Yorkshire Post, March 8) was full of great detail about the famous The Flying Scotsman train and locomotive Flying Scotsman. How good to see the correct use of the word “the” .

I am delighted that this famous locomotive is now on the rails again but very sad that it has appeared in its altered shape – with the addition of ugly smoke deflectors and double chimney.

I think Sir Nigel Gresley would turn in his grave. Such a famous engine should be as designed by him – number 1472 or 4472 and in LNER green. Would anyone alter the shape of a Spitfire? I doubt it, hence Flying Scotsman should be as built in 1923.

Sending the wrong signal

From: Gordon Bray, Grange Road. Golcar, Huddersfield.

I KNOW that The Yorkshire Post likes to champion all things Yorkshire, so I wonder if you might be prepared to put some pressure on both BBC and ITV.

I have recently invested in a new TV and digital aerial and I am pleased with the quality of my Freeview pictures.

However, when I watch BBC News at 10pm and then Look North, all I get is a red screen. If I choose to watch ITV, I end up with Granada and the local news associated with Lancashire, followed by a weather forecast for the North West. I presume both signals are transmitted from Emley Moor, so why can’t I have local Yorkshire news?