Sir, – South Kilvington seemed to breathe a tangible sigh of relief when the news broke last Thursday that the Police and Crime Commissioner and the police had abandoned their plan to build a massive headquarters, police station and ten-cell custody suite on a green field site in the village, right opposite the village school.

We have been fighting the idea for seven months and our aim was to stop the plans being submitted for planning permission.

If we had left it until planning permission was actually applied for, I feel sure it would be started now. Instead they looked for alternatives. It has taken a great deal of effort to get all the evidence against the scheme together, to winkle out all the objections, the laws, the problems existing and probable and put them to the relevant people.

We have involved the residents, of course, planning officers, ex-policemen to give us talks, councillors, our MP, English Heritage, parents of the schoolchildren, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, environmental departments, Yorkshire Water, the list goes on. What wins the day is the weight of argument, the weight of numbers (which is hard in a village of 220 people) and the press and media coverage.

The general public have been ignored so often that a great deal of complacency has set in. One hears people say too often: “Oh well, what can you do? If they want to build there, lay a road, put up pylons etc, they will!” However, we owe it to our forefathers and descendants to speak up.

We cannot dismiss our future and that of our children with a shrug of the shoulders.

Why do we have planning laws and national planning frameworks, green belts and national parks if they can be so easily dismissed? We won’t always win but we must try.

The decision was good news for Northallerton too as the police station and custody suite there won’t now close.

But why didn’t Northallerton join the campaign?

We would have preferred to keep everything in Hambleton but at least we still have the police station in the town.

Thank you everyone who helped in this campaign – residents and friends specially, and that important element, the press, radio, TV etc.

JOY DAVIES South Kilvington, Thirsk.