All at sea

It is now proposing pointless, illogical restrictions on legitimate gun owners in its latest Controls on Firearms Consultation paper. Despite in its 2001 Manifesto saying it had no intention whatsoever of placing restrictions on the sport of shooting.

It even suggests our traditional gun shops should have blacked out windows and age restrictions on those who enter them, reducing our historic gunsmiths to being dressed up like bookmakers or sex shops with a line of 16-year-olds parked outside waiting for their older siblings and parents to finish their shopping.

They want to increase the bureaucratic burden on over-stretched police resources to make pointless enquiries about the many thousands of shotgun users in this county alone.

The Government presents it as tackling the escalating problem of inner city gun crime. We would all support the Government in countering urban gun culture and the need to prevent guns getting into the wrong hands but the government's proposals completely ignore the one proven and accepted fact about gun crime - there is no link between legitimate licensed fire arms and illegal gun use.

This was conclusively proved by the Kings College Centre for Defence Studies in 2001 and is backed up by a report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary published last week which states "a measure of the effectiveness of current legislation that the responsible actions of legitimate holders of firearms is that relatively few are actually stolen so the criminals intent in obtaining guns have to seek alternative avenues of supply".

Gun crime is a social problem and the solution lies in tackling the educational and social failures which have created the disadvantaged underclass in our inner cities.

There is no quick fix and while the social problems persist, gun crime will continue to rise. For the Government, desperate to be seen to be tackling the issue, this is not a happy scenario.

It needs to be able to point to something it is doing about guns but the answer is not to target legitimate gun owners with illogical pointless restrictions which just add to the bureaucratic burden already on overstretched public resources without having any effect on the gun crime that it is aimed to tackle.

This is no time for knee jerk firearms legislation as a desperate reaction to the rising gun crime statistics.

GEORGE WINN-DARLEY

Hutton-le-Hole.

Our idea of balance

Sir, - We have some sympathy with the opinion of W John Barker (D&S letters May 14) about the unsuitability of some village roads and that HCVs pay their road tax and should be able to choose the most effective route.

However, in the current dispute about a weight limit for Great Ayton the fact is that a suitable alternative lorry route exists using the A172, the Nunthorpe bypass and the Guisborough bypass and lorries have been directed by signposts to use this.

We feel that there should be a balance between the convenience of heavy industrial traffic and the well-being and safety of people living in our residential area.

We are told that the 12 hour count of HCVs taking a short cut through Great Ayton amounted to "only" 43, but this avoids the issue that the sheer size and weight of these lorries, many of the type often seen on motorways, make them totally unsuitable to travel on our village road.

It is alarming to see this heavy transport going past Yatton House at an apparent 30mph on a slight downhill gradient to the bridge, and also at 30 mph past the Mill Terrace junction on a bad bend. If one of these huge lorries needed to make an emergency stop there could be dire consequences.

There is no industry at all along the road between Stokesley and Guisborough nor on the side roads to Kildale and Easby so most of the people in the neighbourhood and the police too would be able to distinguish between the delivery and service vehicles going to farms, houses, small shops and businesses, pubs, schools and the one petrol station from the heavy industrial transport making a short cut through Ayton.

The claim made at the last parish council meeting that a weight restriction would be difficult to enforce is exaggerated.

It is not easy to understand the resistance of County Hall to imposing the weight restriction nor our county councillor's advice to wait until improvements had been made and then revisit the issue. Unfortunately we could be waiting a very long time for only slight improvements to the signposting and hardly any difference to HCVs' route patterns. The people of Great Ayton have seen all this before on May 13, 1982 when at a crowded public meeting in a protest against lorries some strong opinions were expressed and the only action taken then was the installation of the present ineffective signs at Stokesley roundabout.

The difference this time is that the lorry companies are no longer based in the village, the population has increased to 5,800, and the road is even busier with genuinely local traffic. At that time the national maximum HCV weight was 32 tons but now it is 44 tons.

Stokesley has been granted three weight restrictions plus the one at Tanton without any noticeable strife so why are there so many obstacles and official opposition to Ayton's claim?.

The matter is urgent and too serious for further delay. We need some positive action and a weight restriction soon or some more convincing objections to this from County Hall and our County Councillor.

J & D SWABEY

Skottowe Drive,

B & WRIGHT

Levenside,

S SAYER

Newton Road,

K PARKER

Guisborough Road,

J & B MANTON, P & M MACKLAM and K. DONOVAN

Greenacre Close,

Great Ayton.

Many thanks

Sir, - I would like to say a big thank you to the Friends of the Friary Community Hospital for all of their hard work with the 10th annual Richmond Art Exhibition held over the bank holiday weekend.

I have just been presented with a cheque for £900 made out to the Mayor's Charities and a similar amount goes to the Friends.

A special thank you must go to Pam and Roy Cross who launched the idea and who have worked hard over the last ten years contacting artists, collecting pictures, drawing up the catalogue etc. This year 200 paintings were on show - a truly remarkable achievement.

Thank you to everyone involved.

Coun STUART PARSONS

Mayor of Richmond

Town Hall,

Richmond.

Sir, - Please may I say a very big thank you to all the enthusiastic and tireless supporters of Thirsk in Bloom for the once again wonderful show of spring flowers all round the town.

They work their little socks off in all weathers and at all times of the day and sometimes early evening. Thank you once again and congratulations on your award of first place it is well deserved.

J BREEDS

Kings Gardens,

Sowerby,

Thirsk.