LEYBURN is in such a mess. For starters, you can't park anywhere other than the huge empty public car park just off the market place.

Personally I prefer parking - although I know I shouldn't - in the bay outside the Co-op. Any closer and I would be parked among the pineapples in the fruit and veg aisle, wondering not for the first time what's the difference between a satsuma, a clementine, a tangerine and a mandarin.

On the subject of shops, the town doesn't have any decent ones anymore so it's no wonder people prefer travelling elsewhere for their groceries. I was in Campbells the other day and I could only find 17 different types of olives. They had olives stuffed with feta, olives stuffed with anchovies and olives stuffed with pimento - but I could not believe they did not have olives stuffed with blue cheese. It was such a pitta.

And don't get me started on all that locally-sourced meat and dairy produce. I don't want boring local lamb, I want my lamb to have seen some of the world before it arrives on my plate.

What makes me more cross than Kriss Kross however is all the new houses they keep putting up in Leyburn.

The town is quickly going from being a town surrounded by farmers' fields to a town surrounded by a different farmers' fields, or just different fields owned by the same farmers. In truth it's mainly the same farmers and the same fields as there's not that many fields developers are allowed to build on, but this is no time for facts.

It wouldn't be so bad if all these new homes were purchased by retired invaders who kept themselves to themselves, only venturing out to check the coast is clear of thieves and vagabonds before jumping into their cars and heading for the old-world charms of Catterick.

But from what I can see, it's young families who can't afford to buy in the surrounding villages, that keep moving in. How are the town's vital luncheon clubs going to survive if all the new homes are snapped up by families?

If this wasn't bad enough, all this new housing means house prices are lower than they would otherwise be, meaning even more young families can get a foothold on the housing ladder. Well I say we should smash that ladder to pieces. Say 'no' to families, say 'no' to new housing.