Letters to the Editor

The article appears to suggest this company is the main culprit but in fact that is totally untrue, and for reasons unclear we are being made the scapegoats - whilst we only operate four aircraft, there are 21 similar aircraft operated by other locally-based schools along with around ten privately owned types.

Add to that the number of visiting light aircraft and you will see we are outnumbered by about nine to one, so those are the odds against a light aircraft causing nuisance being one of ours.

This company was founded six years ago and is CAA-approved to provide flight training for the private and commercial licence and also to train flying instructors, and is the only company so approved at Teesside. Our three senior instructors have in excess of 35,000 flying hours' experience between them, and our flying operations are governed by the CAA published air navigation order and local flying orders promulgated by Teesside airport operations, and we abide strictly by these regulations.

We have in our flight office wall charts depicting preferred outbound and inbound routings clearly showing Yarm, Eaglescliffe and the Middleton areas including surrounding villages as avoid areas where possible, except however, when required by air traffic control to follow a specific routing then we must for safety reasons obey that request.

Because we are principally a flight training academy, most of the flying which takes place here is with an instructor on board and the trainee pilot is monitored carefully, but we do rent aircraft out to solo pilots for recreational purposes and of course it is impossible for us to police those flights.

Insofar as the law is concerned, we feel that our pilots been wrongly accused by Middleton St George Parish Council and the airport consultative committee. Their accusations are no more than unproven allegations based upon hearsay, and the only forum to settle such matters is in a court of law. The procedure for the public to adopt if they believe that they have witnessed a low flying or nuisance incident involving an aircraft is to report it to the police and Civil Aviation Authority (enforcement division) based at Gatwick airport which will take appropriate action.

Should any pilot flying an aircraft owned by this company be accused and found guilty of low flying following properly presented evidence in court, he or she will be barred from flying St George Flight Training aircraft for life. We are and always will strive to be good neighbours.

Capt ERIC REED

Proprietor,

St George Flight Training,

Teesside Airport.

Changing times

Sir, - I read with interest Brian Redhead's account of the present situation in the saga of the proposed Persimmon housing development on the site of the former LPG depot in Aiskew.

In particular, I noted that Hambleton District Council planning committee gave conditional approval to Persimmon's latest plans without debate, and think the suggestion of one councillor that the site be visited received our support.

I wrote to every member of the Hambleton District Council planning committee on January 12, supporting the principle of housing development on this site, but stating my reasons for objecting to the flats submitted by Persimmon, and I suggested that a visit to the site would be beneficial, but received no response.

On another page of your paper I see that Hambleton district councillors are to receive £3,500 per year, and chairman of main committees and sub-committees, a further £2,800 per year.

Many years ago I served as an urban district councillor for a period of six years, for four years of which I was chairman of the finance and general purposes committee. I never received a penny, and was happy to serve without remuneration.

Times change, but not necessarily for the better.

W B CLAPHAM

The Nook

Back Lane,

Aiskew.

Sir, - I was pleased to read in last week's D&S that pig farmers were celebrating after the Ministry of Defence announced it would buy only British pork and bacon for the armed forces. Unfortunately there are as yet no such celebrations among sheep producers.

Last autumn, in the middle of the worst selling season sheep farmers could remember, a small group of North York Moors hill farmers questioned the MoD's meat procurement policy. We were told the MoD would like to buy more British sheep meat, but were unable to find a supplier for the large quantities of frozen lamb they require.

We suspected they were buying on price alone.

When the MoD finally gave the figures for their lamb purchases over the past two years, they made grim reading: 98pc of the lamb had come from Australia, New Zealand and Uraguay and only 2pc from the UK. The MoD was not the only government department buying imported lamb, but it was the biggest.

When the history books are written about the current farming crisis, it should be recorded that although currency anomalies played their part, the greatest injustice suffered by farmers was, that after imposing a multitude of new rules, regulations and requirements on British food producers, the government was still willing to allow its own departments and the supermarkets to purchase tens of thousands of tons of imported meat, much of it produced under systems and by using methods that would be illegal in this country.

C WELFORD

Roxby Moor Farm,

Scaling,

Loftus.

Loftus Bank

Sir, - I should like to respond to the points made in Mr Magor's letter (D&S Times, July 21) regarding the Loftus Bank project.

In respect of the recent closures, they were assessed on a day-to-day basis and were entirely due to the unprecedented level of rainfall which fell on July 2 at a critical stage of the works.

Mr Magor refers to the final completion works, imminently about to commence.

In the early stages of the scheme various options were considered. However, for several months now, the well-tested and preferred method of gabions has been selected.

These rock-filled steel baskets are flexible in use and on this scheme are guaranteed by the suppliers for 120 years.

In regard to the finance, on a scheme of this complexity there will always be unforeseen costs.

There have been several meeting with government officials and our case for finance with the minister has been supported by Ashok Kumar MP.

I am pleased to say that the government is giving financial support to the council for the full cost of the scheme.

Finally, all completed works are being continually monitored and I am not aware of any cause for ongoing concern. I would, however, like to thank the residents of the area for their continued patience during these last works prior to completion of the new road.

Coun DAVID WALSH

Redcar and Cleveland Council Leader's Office,

Town Hall,

South Bank.

Worth keeping

Sir, - Recently I have read articles in your paper about ragwort and how the British Horse Society and local authorities are encouraging us to eradicate the "killer" plant from our countryside.

As a horse lover, I am fully aware of the problems caused to livestock by ragwort. However, I feel it is up to the individual to ensure that grazing land is free of this killer weed, but it should be left on ungrazed land because although ragwort is a killer of farm livestock, it is also one of the main food sources for most of our common native butterflies.

Do the British Horse Society and local councils really want to rid our countryside of the many beautiful and varied butterflies that rely on the plant as a food source and breeding ground?

Not only would we loose the butterflies, but also their caterpillars, and once the food chain was broken we would also loose many more dependant animals.

Mrs C LOVELL

Chestnut Crescent

Catterick Garrison.

A 'bunny job'

Sir, - Your front page snippet Bunny Job (D&S, Durham edition, July 28) provoked great reminiscence in our household.

My husband's father, as a scientific instrument maker, was in a reserved occupation during the Second World War, but he also served as a member of the local ARP. One night he returned from duty, having passed a particularly quiet time, to find my mother-in-law and her neighbour cowering in the Anderson shelter, with their children.

"What a terrible night," said Mum. "We have been in the shelter for hours. We could hear the bombs really clearly. Is there a lot of damage?"

Dad replied: "What are you talking about? It has been quiet for a change."

"But we heard all the thumps and bangs of the bombs dropping!"

After due investigation, this also proved to be a "bunny job".

The neighbour had a large buck rabbit in the hutch next to the air raid shelter, which had obviously spent an active night. This is what they had been hearing, not a heavy bombardment!

JEAN KENDALL

Greenside Court,

Hurworth,

Darlington