COUNCILLOR Di Keal criticises Cllr Keane Duncan for voting against a review of the flooding issue by the scrutiny committee.

In fact no such review is necessary. There was a scrutiny review of flooding in 2004. One of the outcomes of this was to set up a Land Drainage Liaison Group.

One of its tasks is to keep the land drainage situation under regular review. As a consequence, an expert hydrological engineer has been engaged in support, and the Environment Agency and others have been persuaded to implement improvements, including the Slow the Flow Scheme at Pickering.

There is clearly much more that needs to be done, but I would like to think the work of this group largely ensured that Ryedale was not as badly affected by this year’s floods.

The group persuaded North Yorkshire County Council to instruct civil engineers Arup to look at the drainage of Malton and Norton. The work of the group is ongoing, and does not require another review.

The motion which Lindsay Burr and I proposed followed Arup’s report and asked the council to commit reserves towards the provision of permanent pumps for Malton, Old Malton, Norton, Brawby and other settlements.

Instead, the council referred the motion to scrutiny committee, and scrutiny committee decided to do the review which Cllr Keal refers to.

The review will not start until June – which means nothing will be decided before September – at the earliest. Which will bring us right back to next year’s flood season.

So nothing will have been done before the next floods.

Small wonder that so many people are so angry, and Ryedale’s reputation is so low.

In the meantime, the town is inundated with new developments which will inevitably raise the water table and make matters very much worse than they already are.

Extreme weather caused by climate change does not wait for reviews or talk.

What is required urgently right now is action and decisions.

Councillor Paul Andrews, Malton Ward

Building has future

I CANNOT agree with Mr Copsey’s comments about York House, Malton, and the proposals by the Fitzwilliam Estate for its use as a hotel extension.

York House is indeed a magnificent Grade I town house, in my view the finest in Malton/Norton. But the sad fact is that, notwithstanding the repairs in 2010, it has now been lying vacant for more than 10 years.

Empty old buildings deteriorate quickly and leaving York House indefinitely closed benefits nobody. One of the reasons for this vacancy may well be that the building is not in a very attractive location. Its setting close by, and slightly below, a busy noisy road reduces its appeal and its listed building status severely limits possible uses. A museum use could be attractive, but there is simply not the money for such a venture at present.

Any adaption for use as a hotel would have to be very sensitively handled in order to meet English Heritage’s requirements, but in principle this seems to me a potentially appropriate use.

If, of course, a rich benefactor suddenly appears who is willing to fund a community use, well and good. But in their absence I think that we should critically and constructively examine the Fitzwilliam proposals.

I am personally aware of many successful adaptions of important old buildings,and in my view, the worst thing that you can do with an old building is to leave it empty and unwanted.

Mike Gwilliam, Norton

Thanks for support

ON BEHALF of the Pickering and Thornton-le-Dale Fundraising Group I should like to thank all the people who gave so generously to support the work of Marie Curie nurses in this area. A total of £806.29 was collected.

The collectors in Pickering Market Place on March 7 did a wonderful job braving snow, sleet and rain to stand for the cause.

Joy Baker, Westgate, Pickering

Concrete evidence

AS I sat in my bungalow I watched with sheer disbelief as a van stopped opposite my window.

A man got out, threw a few shovelfuls of Tarmac into a pothole, which is about 1.5 metres long and two inches deep, and then got into the van and drove over the pothole.

Is this the way our roads are repaired? I could not believe my own eyes.

Olive Birkett, Rillington