The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority

What would be possible without them

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13th February, 2012.

I find it rather sad when people equate money with happiness.

Tomorrow, the YDNP decides on the future of what is important for our village: wall to wall carparking or "to conserve and enhance
the natural beauty" of the area, I fear car parking will win the day and a precedent will be set.
More cars equals more visitors and the YDNP criteria for success will be made, no matter what the cost to "natural beauty".

Planned parking spaces for our village. Will it ever end?

Cars, cars and more cars.

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I now have, on good authority, that the marina at the bottom of Horton Scar Lane is to be dredged to allow VLCCs access.
A temporary pier is to be installed to allow walkers access to both shores.

One grimey bit of information seeping through the YDNP filters is that the original contact for this situation is on "Paternity leave" presumably at tax-payers expense until the 3rd of March, from when I do not know. I wonder if he had an epidural?

It does makes me wonder where we are heading. Are public employees only going to be able to continue working until sympathetic period pains become unbearable? In which case will the tax payers employees be able to take one week off work each month? And would private sector employees be able to afford to do the same?
What is wrong with ... Oh, never mind.

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21st January, 2012.

"to conserve and enhance the natural beauty"

Low tide Horton Scar Lane.

Sleeping on the Job.

"With regard to Horton Scar Lane, I am of the opinion that the existing sleeper boardwalk is adequate for pedestrian trafic
should the low spot of the lane be under water."
A quote by a Pennine Way Ranger.

Horton Scar Lane has been in use for hundreds if not thousands of years and well maintained for all that time

And can you blame tourists for leaving this mess...

When the YDNP dump their repair rubbish like this?
Been here som months now by the looks of things.

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7th November, 2011.
For years the YDNP resisted planning permission for building anything but a bungalow on this piece of land in Horton in Ribblesdale.

This is, of course, the old slaughterhouse with the remains of the old butchers shop behind it, I doubt anyone on
the YDNP have even got a clue about the historical nature of this site.
I would have thought that this would be an important piece of village history and worth preserving
but suddenly and quite inexplicably, planning permission was granted for three, two story dwellings. Yes three.
There are no services to this site and apparently the drainage and sewerage will have to be pumped uphill to the nearest accessible sewer pipe.
Wouldn’t like to be the poor owner when the power goes off, as it often does.

Access to the highway will be just in front of the slaughterhouse. This is a very busy road with quarry wagons from 05:30 until after 18:00.

SlaughterhousN

SlaughterhouseS

Still, most weekends are wagon free.

Traffic

I wonder what changed their minds?

Well, you could pay someone who knows someone who knows how to persuade the PTB.

I notice, from a letter sent to the YDNP from a certain company which regards itself as being able to sway
the voting decisions of the YDNP Planning Department against the local wishes, NO NAMES MENTIONED, that a certain person is on first
name terms with people who hold that sway.

First name terms

And just who is it that is on such comfy terms with the planning officers?

Comfy terms

And just who is Rachel Whaley BSc (Hons) DipTP MRTPI?

Surely it cannot be?

Rachel Whaley's Experience
Associate
GVA Humberts Leisure

Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry

June 2011 – Present (5 months)

Planning applications and Appeals in the leisure sector. Development potential advice. Projects include holiday park developments, site extensions in the Green Belt, farm diversification, conversion of C2 uses to residential.

Associate Director

Humberts Leisure

Privately Held; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry

November 2007 – June 2011 (3 years 8 months)

Submitting planning applications and Appeals and advising on development potential for projects in the leisure and tourism sector (holiday parks, hotels, pubs, golf clubs). Also planning for rural diversification projects.

Senior Planning Officer

Yorkshire Dales National Park

Government Administration industry

September 1998 – November 2007 (9 years 3 months)

Senior Planning Officer in development control handling planning applications and appeals. Also development plan policy formulation and parish council training.

Now, what would you think if if someone put in a planning proposal, which was rejected by the majority of the residents of a village yet was allegedly endorsed by
a past senior planning officer of the YDNP who is on first name terms with the person who is advising the YDNP on how to cast their decission?

I leave it to you, dear reader, to use your judgement and question how these these decisions are made.

Personally, I always thought it was decided on which foot hit the ground first when getting out of bed in the morning, or something similar.

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15th November, 2011.

Now, I am not usually known to have a suspicious nature and I generally try to shy away from conspiracy theories,
yet sometimes, among the reports of aliens landing in Russia, building 7 demolished by explosives and UFOs sighted
over the pot growing area of California one comes across a gem that really makes you think - wtf would they want to do that?

Which leads very nicely into an item on the agenda of the local parish council meeting, and I quote.

"A letter was also sent to the National Park declining the offer of attendance at Parish Council meetings by a NPA member"

Now it is well know that they have recently lost a senior Die Rote Kapelle mole but do they really have to make it so obvious that they need another?

A little subtlety could do wonders here.