ELECTED members of a council serving one of the country’s most rural areas have declared war on sky lanterns and helium balloons to cut unnecessary wildlife and farm animals suffering injuries or dying. North Yorkshire County councillors unanimously voted to ban the releasing of the popular wedding and special event items on any property and land which the authority has any interest in or control over. The action came as The English National Farmers Union and The British Horse Society renewed their calls for a national ban on sky lanterns. Currently there is no national legislation which specifically regulates sky lanterns.
Railway crossing TO all those people who think a bridge over the Low Gates level crossing in Northallerton is the answer to congestion when the gates are down, may I suggest that they take a Covid-compliant look at what is being built to take North Moor Road over the same railway line. If they do, they will realise that a bridge is a complete non-starter and that the answer can only be to move the line to the North of the town, as was suggested a few years ago in your newspaper. Given the increase in traffic that the new Northallerton estate is likely to generate and the potential increase in rail traffic when Teesside becomes a Freeport it really is time that that the various government agencies got together and came up with a coherent plan to resolve the chaos created by Low Gates crossing, a chaos that can only get worse.