Sorry Chris, but foxes will go on a killing spree, especially when confronted by a captive larder of chickens in a hut with no means of escape. This is not malicious or predetermined, just the fox's instinct to kill.

I am not a hunter, nor do I support the hunt, but equally I do not support the extreme acts of so called Animal Liberationalists.

You say that you only enjoy fox hunting because of the chase, so why not use the tried and tested method of the scent bag which still gives you the thrill of the chase, why does it have to end in the brutal and savage death of an innocent animal. You argue that foxes are nasty and evil, you say that they maliciously kill chickens that they don't even eat, this would imply a pre-determined intent to cause harm and pain, are you absolutely stupid? A fox is an animal, it acts on instincts, the only beings with a pre-determined intent to cause harm and pain are YOU, the FOX HUNTERS! Anyway the bill is passed and myself and hundreds of thousands maybe even millions of people will back it and take ANY ACTION NECCESSARY to ENFORCE IT!

I believe that fox hunting is an english tradition and should not have been band i have never been fox hunting my self but have always wanted to take part. I feel if people disagree with it they should just stay away from it and if you want to do it you should be able to do I believe the world has gone crazy and believe we are loosing things that make britain great.

I am fourteen years old and I feel that wind farms are acceptable and are now our future. If we can't accept that sooner or later turbines will become part of our lives then how is this generation (like myself) expected to bring up a new healthy generation. Outside my house is a large electricity pylon and like everyone else my age I have grown up with the fact that they a part of my environment and surroundings, and I believe that as myself and the rest of the nation/world get older we will too accept the wind farms as our every-day surroundings.

Organic food cannot be beaten. Synthetic dyes take their toll on all those who eat them, and I believe they should be avoided at all cost. Although British farming is in decline, I think that there is still hope for the industry, especially with the spectacular rise of chemical and pesticide free vegetables. The Sudan I dye has, in my opinion been more of a scare than a possible threat. Although it is potentially dangerous, it only exists in minute amounts in the products that have been labelled to contain it. I do not think it would be sensible to buy products that are suspected to contain the dye, but I do not think people should be worried about the health problems it can cause, if they think they have eaten a Sudan I related product. Let us not forget that the food colouring agents and such like are part of our everyday diet, what is to say that something we have just eaten will prove to be harmful in the future.

I live in milton keynes in a very urban part, i have been into country sports all my life including fishing ferreting but particularly shooting i have a 15 month old springer spaniel who often comes rough shooting with me but is not yet trained enough to work on a shoot. if shooting is banned as well as hunting thousands of farmers will go on strike against the government putting the country and business in a right mess there is no way that the society against cruel sports can pull this one off as well..

A few points most people don't seem to consider.

1. The first problem isn't the lack of affordable houses, it's the lack of jobs. There is no point in having housing for locals if there are no jobs.

There is almost no employment for local people, When the mining industry in the Dales closed a large number of locals had to move out, and now that farming requires only a fraction of the numbers employed previously the same thing is happening again; if people want jobs they have to move out of the dales.

This lack of employment means that there are now more houses in the dales than jobs to support them.

2. It is also worth considering the amount of money put into the local community by people like me. I have put far more money into the hands of "local" people, (approaching a £1/4 million to date), than would have been the case had price inflation not pushed houses out of the reach of "locals", most of whom, (for the reasons given above), would presumably be unemployed.

3. As it happens, I had to leave my home in the country,(Leicestershire), just like people in the Dales need to, and move to London simply to get a job, and have now bought a second home in the Dales because I prefer the country - I walk and hunt, (on foot - beagling), whenever I get the chance.

Unfortunately I can't live there because, (as I have pointed out above), there are no jobs.

The farther this society removes itself from direct contact with the natural world - by which I mean living in and with it, rather than watching it on television - the more the deeper instincts of its individuals will be frustrated. And this means that it will sink deeper into that state of unrest of which everything we complain about (crime, excessive political correctness, all the -isms, city riots etc.)is symptomatic.

Defra are working within the policies that come out of the EU but I accept the new schemes should not be up and running until the systems are in place to support them. It is sheer incompetence to do anything else. The shame is that the MTR brings a raft of promising policies. It will enable farmers to raise environmental standards and extra money will be made available for sound rural development that will hopefully meet sustainability criteria. The countryside does attract vast revenues from tourism but to say that farmers will now be paid for 'preserving the countryside for the benefit of townie visitors and foreign tourists' makes it sound like farmers are doing the rest of society a favour. That is not the case. It is a matter of working together and forging a better country where all people can respect each other. There will always be differences of course but farmers are set to gain as much if not more from sound stewardship of the countryside then a 'townie' or 'foreign tourist'. They after all have to live there and who would want to degrade their own backyard? On top of that many farmers have diversified into tourism related businesses and so accrue direct benefit form those who choose to visit a beautiful rural setting. And to put the cherry on the cake it is the 'townies' who are mostly paying the farmers for their efforts. I'm not complaining as I want farmers to conserve the places I love and in order for them to do so their businesses have to be viable economically. However I believe we have to work together and discover areas of common ground on which to build and not foster divisions that terms such as 'townie' create. I am in support of British farming and realise they have had a difficult time over the last decade or so. Some would say that they did not complain when the fat subsidy cheques came rolling in. And its true- they never, but then nor would I. I hope we can reach a place where farmers produce healthy food whilst giving the environment the respect it deserves, I believe most farmers want this too. Defra and the RPA need to get their act together with regards payments. Farmers need to develop a greater understanding of people from urban settings and vice versa. Whilst the UK population needs to find a new loyalty towards healthy home grown food that does not 'cost the earth'. What I do not want is to hear a constant moaning coming from the rural places I love. It does no-one any favours but manages to instill a negative attitude towards farmers, many of whom are very astute and positive people. I wish the positive ones got more air time instead of those whose cups never even make the half full mark.

Whilst I endorse your suggestion regarding opening disused quarries etc. for use by people that want to race around using offroad vehicles, (I include two and four wheels). I feel that you are making an assumption that all "off tarmac" users desire nothing more than to ride around without any concern for the natural beauty around them, and at breakneck speed. This has certainly not been my experience when out riding with members of my club,(Lancashire Trail Riders Fellowship). They follow a code of conduct that other users could not possibly find objectionable. I feel the problem on the "lanes" rests with a few illegal motocross motorcycles ridden by people that would be happy to thrash around a quarry, if it was available and some 4x4 drivers that are happy to get stuck in the mud so as to have the chance to use their winches to extricate themselves These people appear to care nothing for other users or the countryside in general. It is difficult to seperate the good guys and the bad, but they are both out there and the bad must not be allowed to spoil it for everyone. The amount of lanes that may be ridden legally is very small, making it smaller will just increase the use on those remaining and the problem will get worse.

Just a small point, is your 4x4 the best vehicle ecologically, for your daily transport? It may well be that it is, but how many 4x4 owners ever venture onto the lanes, very few I would guess. The pollution created every day is, I think , quite significant. But who cares, certainly not them.

This New Labour government is treating England as a political football since devolution for Wales and Scotland. We've had regional assemblies imposed on us although the North East emphatically rejected them and now NL wish to concrete over vast swathes of England. New Labour can only carry on with their total disregard for the people of England whilst we allow Scots Welsh and Irish MP's voting rights over English affairs. NL would still have a small majority on England, but they would have to debate fully their intentions in an English Parliament. There is still "unfinished business" regarding England.

Am I being too narrow minded or short-sighted? But there is an easy answer to all of the housing-shortage problems facing us. One which could (effectively) benefit us all and help first time buyers, especially in rural areas.

All the government has to do is tax second homes… (if it were me… to the hilt). Now I’m quite ignorant in this respect, having just about enough cash to fend off my mortgage each month, but… if you have a second home, you are able to pay a little more into the community. Thus freeing up a lot of rural housing stock...

Is this too simple?

The Government do not know a thing about what the are trying to ban. Theoretically the ban will not come in place as folk will still go out hunting. They will do this as it is there way of of live (livelyhood) and you cannot take that away from people. Hunting has been going on for ever and you cannot tell people they cannot hunt.

Only just found this site but what a one sided point of view if the so called bully boys in there toys suddenly joined the league against cruel sports your flyfishing days would be numbered.and as £50,000 on a off roader you won't see them green laneing if such cars exist

Bearing in mind, the cost of culling cattle and the rate at which TB appears to be increasing, I would be surprised if something along these lines was not being looked at seriously. It just doesn't appear to be practical at the moment. (Check out the DEFRA website).

Here in Germany, we do not have the fox or the wild boar population under control. Admittedly, using vaccines in bait for foxes and wild boar, the government ist trying to control rabies and swine pest. This has been very successful with rabies, and is moderately successful with wild boar, but as a result we are seeing the populations of both rocketing. The idea of contraception has been bandied about, but I am not aware that this method is being used on a wide scale.

The wild boar campaign is a serious issue over here. Not only is the swine pest hitting the pig breeders (from where it originally came ! ), they are also damaging crops over large areas. As a result they are still being hunted. In areas where the pest is rife vaccines are still being put out, and the animals are subject to heavy inspection before they can be used in the food chain.

As I understand it, the food chain issue is one of the biggest hinderances to using medicines in the wild, along with the practical aspects of administering them. (How do you prevent other species getting overdosed on the piggie pill ?) There have also been many expensive failures trying to treat deer, hares, and pheasant for their respective diseases and parasites, and as we have seen with the boar, in areas where it is being immunised I have heard figures of only a 50% success rate.

There are good spin offs though. I can now bring my dogs into the UK when I return to Yorkshire, provided I have maintained their rabies injections, and have them innoculated against all sorts of nasties that you don't have in England.

I have mixed views. I own an old range rover and a s111 landy. i have bought the landy to drive my family along the green lanes and have a bit of fun. why?. well because where i live there are several thousands of acres of disused land, mainly ex pit sites. within a 5 mile radius of my house. if i or any kids on pushbikes go on it the law chase, warn and will prosicute. the police have trail motorbikes, 4x4 and horses. these areas have not yet been developed. the law says i must stay off or go on the green lanes. their advice. they have even told me where the local ones are. so for the record and untill the law changes. i will use green lanes and pay to play in quarrys.

I totaly agree with fox hunting. I do wander how many of the protesters are really animal lovers who donate to charities on a regular basis whether it be by a standing order each month, or organsing a fund raising event. I wander how many have actually been on a hunt and seen for themselves what happens. Are there not more serious matters going on in the world that need to be addressed rather than the FOX HUNTING debate.

Gentleman, I can understand your concerns over the damage that can be caused by offroad driving however, this only really occurs in wet or loose terrain, and many bridleways show signs of equal if not worse damage from horses.

Is your next move of protest to be aimed at farmers driving tractors over their land that may be boggy? Or will you be putting the same ammount of protest into banning horses on paths etc that you seem to be into keeping fox hunting. I do not partake in fox hunting, and don't wish it banned whereas you obviously do not offroad but you wish it banned - a tad selfish i feel!

50 years ago rivers used to rise and run off much more slowly thus causing far less bank erosion and general damage. Politicians fail to enlighten the British public that much of the present day problems stem from their decision back in the 50's and 60's to subsidise farmers to create upland drainage ditches in order to provide additional farmland. The government blame flooding on global warming and a more changeable climate. They should now admit their mistaken past strategy and provide public funds to reinstate river uplands to their former condition.

God preserve us from scientists and civil servants meddling in things they have very little practical knowledge.

According to the National Trust, an area of countryside equal to the size of Bristol is built on every year. Very soon we will not be able to take our rolling green hills, beautiful woodlands and spectacular coastline for granted. They will sadly be on the endangered habitat list. Without radical action soon we will lose all our natural treasures.

Ironic somehow that I took a look at this article the same day the Dalesmade shop packed up business and departed from the Watershed Mill. The Dalesmade shop was everything you describe about local carfts people selling individual creations.