Sir, - The North Yorkshire county branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England has decided to initiate a village shop support scheme, with a pilot exercise in the Wensleydale branch. This district branch comprises 30 parishes in the southern half of Richmondshire District Council, all of which will be invited to participate.

Preliminary research reveals much declared enthusiasm for village shops not always supported by actual patronage.

For example, in Newton le Willows before the PO/shop closed, a survey conducted by the parish council revealed 74pc of village residents supported their shop. If this percentage actually gave the shop regular support, it would surely still be open. Real support enabling a village shops to survive could be £10 expenditure per week - such as £5 for milk and newspapers plus £5 on fresh, seasonal and other special village shop foods.

We are keeping the Countryside Agency fully informed of our scheme, which needs to be a thorough survey of our parish councils and the general public to find the niche market for village shops to complement supermarkets, town shops and farmers markets.

This niche will vary according to the basic support given by villagers plus the local production of fresh meat, fruit and vegetables from nearby farms and smallholders, not forgetting crafts and other local specialities unobtainable elsewhere.

We aim to overcome any remaining official obstacles to business success in PO/shops, find the niche markets of each one, and, for the first time, arrest the decline of this fundamental local service in our countryside,

J G MACKLEY

County Campaign Secretary, CPRE,

Hunton Mill,

Bedale.

A high price

Sir, - I refer to your further report about Pear Tree Cottage, Hutton Rudby (D&S, Cleveland edition, Sept 21).

The statement by the prospective owner that there is no intent to develop the garden is questionable given that the guide price for the sale by sealed tender was £80-120k. Even by Hutton Rudby standards that figure is excessive for the dwelling alone.

The cottage is a small end-of-terrace building with no garage facility and is barely habitable in its present condition. To suggest that "hope value" for future development is not built into that figure is misleading.

The concept of the entrance to the footpath remaining exactly where it is requires a suspension of reality or the re-invention of basic geometric principles. Possibly the exit, as users would understand it, might be what is being referred to.

Coun Seymour's comment about only addressing relevant matters seems to be diametrically opposed to paragraph four of your report, where the council appears to have in fact discussed possible future development at its previous meeting.

Finally, chairman Coun John Richardson's reference to the avoidance of prolonged legal processess is of concern. Questions of this import to the community should and must be allowed the full legal process no matter how long that takes and to whatever level of resolution it has to rise in that process,

DEREK WISE

High Grange,

Faverdale,

Darlington