ALL parties involved in the long-running saga over a proposed barn conversion at Cams House, near Hawes, will hope that the episode is moving to a close.

In approving the application by a local family for the conversion, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has sided, albeit narrowly, with the expressed wishes of local people. It has got to this point by a tortuous route which at times has severely tested the sometimes strained relationship between the national park and its residents.

Reconciling the tension between its duty to protect the national park landscape and the desire of the local people to get on with their lives, is the perennial problem for the authority.

On this occasion the national park has shown it is prepared to listen and should be given credit for bending over backwards (breaching its planning policy on barn conversions) to approve the application. Let us hope the bad blood this issue has generated can be forgotten.