MOST people who read the front-page story about the development plans for Horton’s historic station (Craven Herald, October 21) would perhaps nod in agreement – if only the Craven Herald had been able to report the full story.

A former trustee of the Settle and Carlisle Line Trust myself and still a fervent supporter of the line, I was horrified about some of the information in the planning application.

In 2002 a planning condition opened the old ticket office for community use, free of charge and in perpetuity. Ever since then it has been used as such, for meetings and training courses, for parish council archives and historical Horton-in-Ribblesdale documents, plus as a hub for the server of the Ribblesdale Community Broadband. There is plenty of evidence including photographs to prove it. Yet in a letter to the planners one of the trustees states, completely wrongly, that this community room “has not been utilised for Community Use since planning approval was granted”.

I challenged this false information in an email to the planning department over a month ago.

I have received no reply and, as far as I know, the applicant has not been asked to clarify how they came to make this erroneous statement.

I also believe that many aspects of the development plans are ill thought out and harmful to the historic integrity of this much loved building. I have had no reply to my objection, nor has it appeared on the planning website.

Those of us who believe in a transparent and unbiased planning process must be told why none of the objections sent to the planning department (apart from the Parish Council objection) are listed on the planning website.

No wonder the Craven Herald could not do its job properly and report this development in its usual well-balanced manner.

Wilf Fenten

Vice chair, Friends of the Dales

Selside

Settle

 

In response, a spokesperson for the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority said: "Mr Fenton asks, in his letter, why none of his objections sent to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority are listed on the planning website. 

"Only responses from consultees are published online. These include statutory consultees, where there is a requirement set out in law to consult a particular body, and non-statutory consultees, (such as parish councils) where there are planning reasons to engage other consultees.

"We can confirm we’ve received Mr Fenton’s comments which will be carefully considered alongside representations from local community groups, individuals, and other interested parties.

"If there are inaccuracies within the planning application, they will be discussed with the applicant and any differences of opinion will be considered and dealt with when the decision is made.

"Finally, in common with other planning authorities in the region we are experiencing very high workloads at the moment which is making it harder to respond as promptly as we would like to all the correspondence we receive. We’re trying to rectify that situation and would ask the public to bear with us."