Harber Scar lane, close to my house, has been my favourite walking spot for the last 31 years. for most of that time it was quiet and peaceful, with clean fresh air. Now,sadly, I can no longer use it at the weekend as the trail bike tear up there in all weathers, making a hellish din and spewing out filfthy fumes. The path is now really uncomfortable to walk on as it is a mass of loose stones and these get thrown violently into the air as the bikers roar past so that one is in danger of being seriously hurt by flying stones. The bikers are usually in convoys of up to 12 bikes.

At Sell Gill they have gouged huge muddy gullies into the hillside and the grass and topsoil are being badly eroded in wet weather. After the foot and mouth outbreak, when the path was reopened it was wall to wall grass with no loose stones, but within two weeks the damage was reappearing and by last summer the situation was as bad as it had ever been. Now the bikers are beginning to appear on weekdays as well and soon thet path will no longer be usable or safe for walkers. I long for a legal solution and hope that it will arrive before someone is killed. Sheila Haywood.

Having recently being hit in the face by flying stones from inconsiderate trail bikers I fully endsorse the proposed legal moves to restrict and remove motor bikes and off roaders from bridleways and other quiet roads.

I've a 4x4 but I would not dream of driving on 'green lanes'. I've witnessed the extreme damage these vehicles have done to what once was the delightful green lane above Dent leading to Deepdale. It's now so bad that I doubt that 4x4's can use it - but now it's at the mercy of the bikers! It is time to legally put a stop to this so called selfish recreation.

The hills, once the recreational refuge of the working classes, as well as the workplace of the hill-farmer, are becoming the playground of the rich and thoughtless.

"Off-Roaders" have no place in any area of natural beauty because they have no respect for it.

It's high time these people were prevented from causing further damage to a landscape they neither love nor understand.

I've a 4x4 but I would not dream of driving on 'green lanes'. I've witnessed the extreme damage these vehicles have done to what once was the delightful green lane above Dent leading to Deepdale. It's now so bad that I doubt that 4x4's can use it - but now it's at the mercy of the bikers! It is time to legally put a stop to this so called selfish recreation.

I am a bit of a 'half-breed' with my roots firmly in suburbia but having lived the last 20 or so years in Settle. Large 4X4's are a menace wherever you live and unfortunately seem to be on the increase. I have just spent a week in south London and they dominate the roads, pushing their way through like oversized aggressive rugby payers on their way to the touch line. Most of the people behind the wheel have no idea of the width and worry about scratching the sides. I think they should be banned altogether unless you can prove you need such a vehicle for farming needs. They are a horrible reminder of how materialistic and agressive we have become as a socitey and I would be ashamed to drive one even if I could afford one.

Your concern is echoed here in Maine. The lure of greater money offered by a metropolis has offset the work ethic and pride at the local level.

Saying that, since I am a naturalist/writer, hire me at minimum wage and I will do anything in my field for the chance to experience the Dales firsthand. The young folks can have London and New York and all the money they can earn. I want a quieter, serene life even if peanut butter and jelly sandwiches take the place of lobster and filet mignon.

The prospect of Judicial Review should not deter North Yorkshire County Council from imposing Traffic Regulation Orders and defending against the Review. Judicial Review is a legal process which tests whether a statutory authority's discretionary power (in this instance the power to make Traffic Regulation Orders)has been exercised REASONABLY. The test applied in that respect is : was the decision to invoke the power a decision that any reasonable and fair-minded person might be entitles to take?

I think that imposition of a restriction which has majority support and benefits the countryside - demonstrably limitation of traffic on green lanes does - would be difficult to challege successfully by Judicial Review. Certainly, the County Council should take leading counsel's opinion before bowing to resistance via Judicial Review.

The only people who should have 4by 4rs are hill farmers. The selfishness of people ploughing up green lanes is dreadful. In 1950 I went on a tandem ride with my late dad via Skipton, Settle, Malham and pushing the tandem down the lane till we reached the road at Kilnsey. I was 10 so the 60 odd mile journey on that Sunday was quite an adventure. But my late dad when he was in hospital before his death gave me a Dalesman which I still have showing the muddy mess of Mastiles lane-I think concrete posts should be set at the beginings to stop 4 by 4rs. I was upset when I saw the pictures in the Dalesman though I am now disabled and housebound young walkers should be able to enjoy walks like of my young days regards Mrs Sylvia Tomlinson

The Dalesman was May 1994

John Sheard could do with keeping things in perspective.

Being a countrysports enthusiast and practising rural land agent I also deplore such use of our highways and byways. At the risk of sounding controversial it should not be forgotten that much of the damage is caused by ever larger agricultural machinery. When poor maintenance by landlords follows this you have lanes in very poor states of repair. Like everything else a few spoil it for the rest.

Council resources are such that there is very little chance of persuading them to fulfill their obligations to maintain the very lowest status of public roads.

The issues are very much more complicated than simply "urbanites" off roading in their range rovers at the weekend. Are there really any readers out there whose use of a green lane has been interrupted by a city person driving their £50k Range Rover through deep ruts just for fun?

Come on Sheard, keep things in perspective! Putting all the blame on the city folk (on whom many businesses in the countryside depend throughout the year) will not help our cause.

I agree that some species are declining, even in garden birds. Pesticides must be partly responsible, also changed social habits in humans. (My neighbours have cleared everything out of a 60ft garden and substituted swings, climbing frane, wendy house, patio, an artificial fountain, a conservatory.) Other species adapt, the magpies love it, a tawny owl hovers at night on the clothes post, grey squirrels scavenge, blue tits unperturbed are using a nesting box on our side of the wall, I suspect rats are not far away though I have little evidence. Is it perhaps just a part of the evolution process?

Complaining when people don't support your business doesn't get you very far. You cannot force them to spend money. They either haven't heard of you, or don't like what they find. The ONLY thing any business can do is change the product & price to what customers actually want, and market this effectively.

Agree wholeheartedly. Why not adopt the Spanish attitude to Europe, adopt the EC measures that suit Spain. These are then interpreted by the 7 semi autonomous regions to best suit the region. EC directives that are not suited to Spain are ignored.

Thus we benefit from supermarkets with a wide range of local vegetable produce, including varieties of veg not grown in the UK due to those EC directives, not irradiated, not shrink wrapped. Meat can be purchased as well hung, or not, as you fancy. Bits of animals not seen in the UK are freely available.

The countryside, in Andalucia at least, is still worked as it has been since the Iron Age, the same terracing, animals and vegetation. Farmers tend to use less non organic fertilisers due to the established rotation methods. There are fishes in the rivers here. It is true that per head there is an awful lot more land in Spain so agriculture does not have to be as intensive.

Escaping Europe was one of the main reasons we came here in 2000 and we regret it not a bit.

The problem is one of attitude. Blair and Co are very mindful of what the rest of Europe think of them. The Spanish Government cares not a jot.

The residents of the UK have my sympathy.

The views about solving the power needs seem to be an over emotional mix of fact and politics. It is better to try to be objective, difficult as that may be.

It is proven fact that fossil fuels are running out and meanwhile their use is having a changing effect on the environment. The change may be good or bad depending upon your view point but they will certainly radically change the countryside if their use is totally unchecked. What will ultimately check them is their limited supply.

I to would agree that nuclear power is in practice cleaner. There is very little radioactivity released and the antagonism against this source of power is based mainly on emotion and politics. However there is radioactive waste created and this decays slowly so it needs to be stored over very long periods. There is also usually localised environmental effects from the vast amount of coolant water that often gets discharged into the sea. It is not radioactive, but is warm.

There is concern that if not properly managed then they can become extremely dangerous as Chernovil proved. However in the UK we have a good track record of management.

Ultimately, and that may be sooner that we are comforable with, we will have to rely on renewable sources of entergy (or discover new sources of energy) Renewable resources tend not to harm the environment though they may look different (Ugly?) They will include wind farms, solar pannels, hyrdoelectric schemes (Already extensively in use) and tidal power.

I am afraid we have to face some basic facts. If you build the wind farms in the centre of towns then they will not work! We build towns in valleys (for good historical reasons when water power was greatly used and farming was more of a key industry) We do not build towns on tops of hills. Wind farms will work far better on the tops of hills. So it is not a politcal "town v countryside" question it is a "do you or do you not" use this form of renewable energy. Where possible the wind farms may be placed out at sea. However the power then has to travel longer distances to be delivered in inland areas. (And you can still see them!)

One can not but wonder if there was once a great deal of protest down at the tavern. "These windmills will ruin the look of our country side" For "Windmills" you might also read "Reservoirs", "Electric Pylon lines", "railways", "canals", and many more progresses in our history. Once you had to walk in front of the motor car ringing a bell, as a result of resistance to its introduction. Tempting as it may be I do not think we really would like to return to horses. (The cars are not going to run on carbon fuel much longer though!) The route cause of our concern is that we simply find it difficult to accept change even though change is going on all the time and what varies is simply the speed of change.

Some of our most enjoyable family holidays have been here and even now that our children are older they enjoy the opportunity to recharge their batteries in this beautiful area. i was saddened to read that it was to be lost as i was in fact looking up the website to pass on the information to a friend to whom i had been extolling the qualities of this for a holiday for her young family and to enjoy a break with my own. This is a great loss.

First, I must say that I am forever having to remind myself as to which is the more common of the yellow-coloured Waggies - the Yellow or the Grey (because funnily enough, the latter is principally yellow). Therefore, since John Sheard does not mention the Grey it occurs to me that perhaps he has not taken account of the difference. So does the decline in numbers apply also to the Grey, or only to the Yellow which was, after all, pretty uncommon in the first place? A decline of the Grey Waggie would be of more concern but it seems to me that those Grey (yellow) Wagtails were last year wagging away as usual on the pebble banks of the Wharfe. However, I shall watch for them this year.

Whichever of the two it is, it joins the growing list of birds which are in decline, perhaps the most noticeable currently being the sparrow and the starling. Though the reason for any one is often a subject for debate, it seems that farming methods are universally suspect. Nevertheless, it is I think indisputable that the reason is in the broader sense, interference by human society.

To be optimistic, I would say that the result of this interference is not the death of the natural world as we know it, but merely a change in the balance - which has through prehistory always followed a disaster (such as the proliferation of the human race). To be cynical, I would say that we have already lost the natural world as we knew it. We are urbanising the world and nature will fit in as best it can.

Incidentally, I remember reading fairly recently - was it in 'Have your say'? - someone's stated view that it would be desirable to allow the countryside to revert to its 'natural state'. Goodness Gracious Me! What did the writer imagine the Natural State to be? The English countryside has been so hacked about by humans for thousands of years that I'm sure it no longer knows what its natural state might be.

2002 was an incredible year for wind power with the largest increase in energy generation. Even if, with current technology, generating 60% of our energy from renewables would clutter our countryside and seascapes, can you imagine how much more efficient generators could become in the years leading up to 2050?

You may contest that renewable energy generation is recieving subsidies and would continue to need them to remain viable, but is that not what has always happened? Subsidies were paid to the National Coal Board (which precipitated its attack from the Conservative government in the 80s) and there are now massive bailouts being paid to British Energy to stop that company going into administration. Why not invest in technologies which could use the natural resources available to these islands, and develop low impact methods of generating power? Allied to reducing energy usage, these are the means for a sustainable future.

I am a regular visitor to the Hawes, and Patley Bridge areas to ride my trial motorcycle. Please dont confuse what we do with off-roading, i use Byway's open to all traffic, and Rights of Way. The picture you have used above looks like a muddy field which has a right of way, not a clearly defined road or by-way. Areas like the one above clearly need action to stop the damage, but i dont think a motorcycle that weighs about 100kg compared to a 4x4 that can weigh up to 2 tons would do the same sort of damage.. The Government needs to encourage responsible riding, rather than stoping it all together. Trail riding is an ever growing sport, more and more people are going into the countryside to enjoy there hobbys, bringing with them a trade to the local shops, petrol stations etc. If you suddenly stop the access, you will remove all the trade that these people bring (generally in winter). One last point to make, how would you police such laws over a vast area of ground, with an already over worked police force? Kind Regards, Lee Dwight (a concerned rider)

To be honest, I dont know what the answer is, but to argue that nuclear power is a lesser evil on the grounds that it has been the direct cause of fewer deaths than mining is possibly a case of using spin in the same way that the government does. Chernobyl springs instantly to mind, and the cumulative effects of disposing of nuclear waste for, say, the next 100 years will be felt by generations to come, so we need to take our responsibilities seriously. While I would not be happy to see vast areas of the countryside covered with windmills in the way John Sheard describes, I see them as a majestic symbol of man's willingness to try to find alternative sources of energy for the future, and hope they can be regarded as a part of an ongoing endeavour to do just that. I don't consider that they cause 'untold damage' to the landscape because in the event that the energy problem is solved in a more satisfactory way in years to come, they could be removed without trace. How long would it take for the lanscape to recover after a serious nuclear accident or build-up of nuclear waste? Rather longer, I fear.

Way to fly, Guy!! I am glad to see that some of you Brits are seeing the light!It has been obvious to some of us warching from the wings, that the French and the Germans have been angling for control of the EU for a long time. The concept of a large trading union is good,as long as it is designed and run in such a fashion as to allow equal opportunities to all the participants. As soon as one, or two of the members manage to skew the rules to favour themselves it is no lnger a properly functioning entity. This is what has happened here in Canada with our "free trade agreement" with the Yanks. NAFTA has cause us to lose the majority of our manufacturing baseand we have become "hewers of wood, and drawers of water" for the voracious American marketing base! Basicly, we have become a source of raw materiels that are processed by the cheap labour in the southern states and Mexico, and then sold back to us at highly inflated prices, and guess who is making all the profit? Not us Canucks, that's for sure! The Yanks are always talking about a "level playing field", well it's level in their eyes as long as it's tipped up at their end! Don't let this happen to you guys over there! Scream bloody murder about inequalities in your trading agreements and insist that all decisions are reached by a concensus of the whole!! Yours truly, Wally Austman, Canada (you may use my name and address, I'm not ashamed of my views)

I'm studying major incidents at college and grant im no expert but if a problem is continually happening the easiest thng to do in this case is build flood defeneces. The concil has a duty to the health and safety of its tenant, they should not of let company build on the flood plian hense the name flood plain in season of high water levels that areas there to flood. The concil shouldn't have let it get this far, the locals should get together and show the concil want the should be doing, getting out there and rising money.

I was born in Hull and still believe the British Isles are a beautiful place. In my nostalgic moments, I still dream of sitting up on the Yorkshire moors on a summer afternoon, with puffy little white clouds etc etc. You get the picture. To ruin this with wind generators is unthinkable. Frankly you are quite right about nuclear power generation. It IS safe and really the only viable option. Hopefully fusion power will eventually come along and that solves the waste problem. Another aspect of nuclear power, of course, is the ability to manufacture hydrogen, which could then be used for vehicle fuel. This is a TOTALLY safe and environmentally friendly fuel. Keep the heat on the politicians and keep the greenies locked away in a closet somewhere. Oh yes, I might come back to England to live one day and I DO NOT want to find it all cluttered up with wind mills and wave generators, thank you very much!!! Good luck Best regards Dr. Michael Flanagan