Letters: Keep the Manor

Of course, North Yorkshire County Council has aimed to dispose of it for many years and it is a pity that the parish council did not react far more forcefully at an earlier stage.

I note that Hambleton Council supports the scheme. What is this body for? It is enough to have to deal with the county council to get anything done but they both seem to relish shifting responsibility from one to another.

Why does Hambleton need an office in Stokesley at all? It never seems to be a hive of activity - how many use it to pay their rates nowadays?

I would think that most business with the public is done by phone and it is just as easy to phone their office in Northallerton.

If the Hambleton office in Stokesley is to be sold - it seems it must if they intend to share the premises with the projected new library in North Road - they could just as easily be accommodated within a modified Manor House complex.

Better still, the Hambleton outpost in Stokesley could be closed altogether. How much revenue would be liberated, to be spent on the people of Stokesley, rather than bureaucracy?

George Carter has really said it all - the benefits of retaining the library, Broadacres housing, and the Hambleton office (if it must have one) in the centre of Stokesley, rather than overstressing North Road (I understand that there is even talk of putting traffic lights there to control the extra traffic). They seem obvious to everyone but the empire-builders of Northallerton.

We must object to these new plans and support Coun Carter and others of the parish council - let the people of Stokesley be listened to.

J M SCOTT

West Green,

Stokesley.

Leaving Leyburn

Sir, - My husband and I are leaving Leyburn with great regret. It has always been an area we liked and upon retiring we decided to buy a home in Brentwood.

Having been misled into believing we were moving into a cul-de-sac, it came as quite a shock once we had bought our property to find it was going to be a through road.

Most of the people living in Brentwood are elderly and retired. They keep their property and gardens immaculate and it's a pleasure to walk into the town centre.

It is a nice place to live and nice people who live there. Unfortunately for us it has been spoiled by the road going through. We escaped from noise and traffic, or so we thought, only to find it wasn't to be the haven we expected.

Retired people are now an easy target for criminals and it has been proved that cul-de-sacs deter the criminal element. Opening up the road gives them more chance to escape.

There is also the danger of people speeding. It has been plainly signed as a 20mph speed limit. There have been traffic humps put into the road but it doesn't stop the speedsters. They go down the centre of the road and miss them altogether. A waste of ratepayers' money.

Now we are to have a medical centre in Brentwood - something badly needed for all. Again, this is badly planned. The building will look completely out of place among the residential buildings already there.

I feel so sorry for the people who will have this building towering over their property. Although a car park is to be provided, we all know people will park just anywhere and cause inconvenience to people living nearby.

We have lost the tennis court, the community centre and a white elephant has been brought with the money from these sales. Thornborough Hall is a beautiful building but is going to cost the ratepayers a lot of money to maintain.

We are not impressed by the councils involved. They seem to disregard the people who they are supposed to represent.

A SPEAKMAN

Brentwood,

Leyburn.

Full horror

Sir, - The National Grid wiped away my delight in a fine spring morning today. Driving towards Northallerton from Jeater Houses, I encountered, for the first time, the full enormity of the Picton-Lackenby-Shipton line.

I had already noted, with dismay, the earlier stages of this work - the loutish "up yours" salute on Winton Bank, the witless vandalism of the giant jackboot by the Cod Beck bridge at Kirby Sigston, the barbarous intrusion near Cotcliffe Wood - but was still unprepared for the sheer awfulness of what I saw.

For years I have enjoyed the sight of the Cod Beck valley at Kirby Sigston but now the entire vista, from left to right, is bisected by the cables gleaming in the sun, as if a vicious halfwit has daubed graffiti across a painting. It seems the National Grid has deliberately and spitefully inflicted the pylons in the most prominent and aesthetically sensitive places - no doubt as a mean, cruel and final insult to the protesters who dared, so presumptuously, to object to them.

I trust Lord Wakeham, Michael Heseltine and Margaret Beckett, who each played a shameful part in this "screw the non-Southerners" debacle, receive their just deserts. Meanwhile, I don't have to see the evidence of their indifference every day - I could weep for those who do.

JOANNE ASTON

Over Silton,

Thirsk.

Apology

Sir, - The front page report last week (D&S, Mar 21) referred to allegations which had been made against S Bosomworth a resident of Church View, Brompton concerning issues which had occurred in connection with the bus stopping point at Church View.

The parish council wishes it to be known that it is now of the view that Mr Bosomworth has not at any time been involved in any incidents which may have occurred between various residents at the bus stopping point. Consequently a full and unreserved apology has been given to Mr Bosomworth for the upset that this matter has undoubtedly caused him.

The council acted in good faith in the interests of community safety following reports made to it by residents but felt that it was unable to discuss the matter at its last meeting due to legal advice being pending at that time. It is hoped that the issue of the bus stopping point will now be resolved to the satisfaction of all residents concerned.

B SLATER

Vice-chairman,

Brompton Parish Council.

Shared concerns

Sir, - I believe that the issues that concern local people in rural areas are not so very different from those that concern people all over the country - education, jobs, good health and housing, safe streets and transport - all areas that have received more investment under a Labour Government.

Rural areas have a strong voice in this parliament, with more Labour MPs in rural constituencies than all the Conservative MPs put together. With this strong voice, they are making sure that investment flows into rural areas, to be spent on real community projects.

I am promoting the local Wheels 2 Work scheme, which provides transport for those between the ages of 16 and 26, to get to work, train for a job or attend college for further education. This is widely held to be one of the real success of the Rural Transport Partnership - just one of the ways that Labour is helping rural areas.

JANET SEYMOUR KIRK

Northallerton & District Labour Party

Brompton.