YP Letters: Ban drivers from our green lanes

From: Michael Bartholomew, Chairman, the Yorkshire Dales Green Lanes Alliance.
Mastiles Lane at Kilnsey is now a no-go area for most vehicles.Mastiles Lane at Kilnsey is now a no-go area for most vehicles.
Mastiles Lane at Kilnsey is now a no-go area for most vehicles.

IT is encouraging to see that a group has been set up to mobilise the public’s anger at the damage and nuisance caused by recreational 4x4s and motorbikes to the green lanes of the North York Moors (The Yorkshire Post, August 27).

Similar groups are springing up all over the country. The only permanent solution will be a change in the law: motor vehicular rights must be removed from unsealed green lanes, save for essential vehicles used by farmers and other people with a need for access.

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Meanwhile, local authorities can do a great deal to mitigate the harm that recreational vehicles cause to these ancient and beautiful lanes.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has taken the lead by imposing 10 permanent traffic regulation orders, prohibiting non-essential motor vehicles. The 10 lanes have recovered their former beauty – Mastiles Lane at Kilnsey is an example – and are now a pleasure to traverse, on a horse, on a bicycle, or on foot.

But North Yorkshire County Council has been slow to follow the Dales example. There are a few temporary orders in place, but the council has yet to set out a systematic action plan. The council persists in the belief that unsealed green lanes, deep in the countryside, can be repaired – at great expense – and then re-opened to motorbikes and 4x4s. This belief is mistaken. Non-essential motors are fundamentally out of place on green lanes.

We can no longer drive our vehicles around the precincts of York Minster, or down Briggate in Leeds. We should value Yorkshire’s green lanes as highly as we value our cathedral precincts and city centre streets.

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Green lanes are a precious legacy from the horse-drawn age. People who now drive 4x4s and ride motorbikes along them must be required to leave their motors where the Tarmac stops – and enjoy the lanes on a bike, a horse or ther own two feet.

Swimming is a vital skill

From: David Craggs, Shafton Gate, Rotherham.

I THOROUGHLY agree with John Appleyard’s letter ‘Unhealthy state of school sport and swimming’ (The Yorkshire Post, August 26) regarding the fact that a disturbing number of our primary school children are unable to swim. I’ll put it more strongly... it is a national scandal that any Government should be ashamed of.

In his letter he stated that almost 50 per cent of 11-years-olds cannot swim 25 yards. Just compare his with the situation in Wakefield all of 50 years ago.

The council at that time placed great emphasis on teaching the city’s children to swim, and the target was 100 per cent. This was almost reached, apart from those children who couldn’t achieve it due to a physical or mental disability.

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I would personally like to see the number of school children who cannot swim at 11 stated on all Ofsted reports into the nation’s primary schools.

Let’s not forget one very important fact... a child may be outstanding at literacy and numeracy, but it would all count for nothing if they fell into the local canal and couldn’t get themselves out, or stay afloat long enough to be rescued.

Give cricket news priority

From: Hilary Andrews, Leeds.

THE football season seems to go on all year, but is always the first item on the sports news. Isn’t it about time that cricket was king during the summer months?

In particular our Yorkshire team who have done extremely well in all forms of the game this season despite providing half of the successful England team with our best players.

Give us cricket fans some coverage, please.

Mayors bring extra expense

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

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YOUR columnist Tom Richmond goes to great lengths (The Yorkshire Post, August 27) to explain that local mayors would bring power closer to the people. I beg to differ. All local mayors do is bring yet another layer of administration to be funded by the taxpayer. They follow their individual whims and wishes. Invariably they build up another empire of admin staff.

Sorry Tom, I think you are wrong.

NHS critical

From: Dave Croucher, Pinfold Gardens, Doncaster.

THE Government would rather spend billions of pounds on white elephant HS2 and HS3 rail services than look after the health of the public, and you can be sure the greatest losses of NHS services will not be in London and the South. What this Government means by looking after the NHS is ‘looking after it as it disappears into history’.

Name check

From: Ian K Dodsworth, Ossett, West Yorkshsire.

WHAT a coincidence that the photograph of the fallow deer at dawn in the river on the Chatsworth estate (The Yorkshire Post, August 26) was taken 
on what turned out to be the hottest day, which saw temperatures peaking at Cavendish in Suffolk.

Cavendish is the family 
name of the Dukes of 
Devonshire; the family seat 
being at Chatsworth!