Sir, – I have been following your reports and the subsequent letters (for the past year) regarding the proposed planning application for Bagby airfield.

It has brought much amusement with every new story and the letters which follow. I wonder how these people sleep at night with their uncontrollable rantings, for if they say one of man’s greatest achievements is powered flight, in the Vale of York moaning and whinging is the greatest of them all.

I have no problem with the plan for Bagby airfield and neither do a great many others, it is just that their voices are not heard. I was born and raised in this area, my family have been here for more than 150 years and you could say I am a local.

Aviation has been part of the vale since the early 1930s for obvious reasons (easy to see where the hills are). In fact, if anything, noise pollution has dropped.

The RAF is using quieter trainers than they were 25 years ago and we all know they make the most noise.

Here in Wass we are on the edge of the Linton zone and we get the RAF Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm (plus night flying).

We also have the Army Air Corps flying low level in their helicopters day and night.

In addition, we get the glider tugs from Sutton Bank on a weekend, an assortment of aircraft from Bagby and Wombleton, microlights from Baxby Manor etc. Flying is part of the fabric of this area and most of us do not really notice the background noise.

Perhaps all the moaners would like a deathly quiet to descend on the Vale of York as happened in 2001 when footand- mouth was in full swing. It can be quieter in inner city London than out here in the sticks.

Nature in all its glory is never quiet and then there is agriculture, tourism, cars, caravans and motorbikes, ramblers etc.

As for safety at Bagby and the rest of the Vale of York’s airfields, the number of fatalities is minute compared with the number of road traffic accidents.

Only last Saturday we saw another death at the staggered crossroads for Bagby and Sowerby on the A19 (those crossroads have seen countless deaths in the past 30 years, a pity none of the Action Refusal mob don’t get worked up about that).

It is such a shame that people move into an area like the Vale of York and then spend all their time trying to change it.

ASHLEY SMITH Hambleton Lane, Wass.