Bad comparison

Firstly I have to agree with your analysis of the Government's regional assembly proposals. The case for them is not convincing. They will add nothing to local government in the region and the debate is already a significant distraction from our main job of improving service delivery.

Even if people choose to support the setting up of an assembly in next year's referendum, Hambleton will continue to exist for five years or more whilst the transition to new-style local authorities takes place.

In most things we do there are choices and risks. What I am not prepared to do is let this council stand still whilst there are people needing our services.

Taken to a conclusion from your leading article it would be easy to throw the towel in and withdraw from any maintenance and upgrades that support our main objective of making life better for people.

Would there be the same outcry if refurbishing a leisure centre or buying a new refuse collection vehicle? I suspect not. People using our other services are entitled to the same standards when dealing with us, as are the employees who work here.

It is not unreasonable to do some refurbishment that supports better service delivery. My cabinet colleagues and I are not yet convinced on some of the detail of the scheme.

What has hit the headlines is an upper figure on the cost of a total project which includes far more than just the main reception area. When designs are finalised I hope that the figure will be somewhat less and would be happy to share it with you and your readers.

Whatever the costs, we are making budget provision within the existing council tax base. To associate this expenditure with council tax increases of other precepting bodies like the county council and police is a totally unfair comparison.

I am happy to be accountable for the lowest shire district council tax in the country and to be leading an authority which wants to improve further for the people who rely on us for their local services.

Coun ARTHUR BARKER

Leader, Hambleton District Council,

Stone Cross,

Northallerton.

Have your say

Sir, - Last year the police authority took a decision that was difficult for us to make and even more difficult for many of your readers to understand and accept, namely to increase the council tax to give the chief constable more money to resource the North Yorkshire force, to about the average level for forces of a similar type.

This was needed to enable her to make urgently needed investments in the organisation, to make it more efficient and effective, and to begin to build the kind of police service which people of this area tell us they want.

At the time, we were criticised by a number of people who maintain that this decision did not reflect their views and that they were not consulted.

We did indeed consult last year through public open meetings and this newspaper, with many others in the area, played a valuable role in alerting the local community to their nearest event.

So how can people get involved this year? We have a public meeting arranged for 6.30-9.30pm this evening in the Hambleton Forum, Bullamoor Road, Northallerton.

The chief constable will outline how the money raised last year has been spent and what has been achieved with it. She will also outline several options available to the authority for next year.

We are also running a questionnaire on our website www.nypa.org.uk. The same questionnaire is available on request through the post from PO Box 106, Ripon, HG4 5WA.

We are using local citizens' panels, where they exist, and we want to get small groups of residents together in focus groups to look in detail at some difficult budget issues.

Residents who can spare us about two hours in January can register their interests through the NYPA. We can't emphasise enough how important it is for police authority to hear the public views, so that we can take them into account when finally deciding on activity. Residents can really influence our decision.

CARL LES, JANE RYAN and DAVID CARTER

Members of North Yorkshire Police Authority in the Hambleton district.

Not ethical

Sir, - I am deeply concerned that Disney has allowed People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), to exploit a poster for its latest animation, Finding Nemo, to promote vegetarianism in youngsters.

PETA is an extreme animal rights organisation which has run high profile campaigns to get angling banned. This latest partnership is irresponsible and potentially damaging, both in terms of nutrition and in terms of young people's perceptions of animals and conservation.

It seems that PETA want children to believe that animals have human emotions, which research suggests they do not. This campaign threatens the nutrition of a generation who need all the healthy dietary examples they can get in an age of junk food.

Fish should be a key part of the diet, as many nutritional experts agree, and a marketing campaign aimed at destroying this message is immensely harmful.

Not only do PETA want us to believe that fish inhabit the 'happy ending' world shown in this cartoon, but that fishing itself is at odds with the welfare and conservation of fish - this could not be further from the truth.

No one does more than anglers to ensure that fish stocks and waterways remain healthy and flourishing. For a marketing campaign based in fantasy to challenge the reality of angling is both insulting and damaging.

Children need to be aware of the real world, not force-fed trite fairy-tales. I will be writing to Disney to ask them if they really want to be linked to a group that advocates an extreme code of putting animals ahead of the rights and welfare of people.

If Disney truly has the welfare of young people at heart they should be promoting the sport of angling and eating fish, not denouncing them.

CHARLES JARDINE

Director, Campaign for Angling

Kennington Road,

London