It was a huge shock when Haworth – for a long time considered the epitome of the “chocolate box” village – was put on the “at risk” register by English Heritage.

True, Haworth still draws huge numbers of tourists and even on a bad day is still head and shoulders above many other villages across the country, but the organisation’s declaration that modern buildings and poor maintenance of older structures was eroding Haworth’s character were still something of a wake-up call.

The supposed decline of Haworth was blamed on modern, jarring signage being put up on historic buildings, advertising boards cluttering the streets and older buildings falling into disrepair.

Now, thankfully, English Heritage has withdrawn Haworth from its at-risk register after a solid three years of efforts by the local community to improve the village.

Many old buildings have been returned to their original glory, there has been a clean-up of advertising signs and clutter, and a lot of work has been done to restore the stone setts on Main Street and spruce up the Bronte schoolroom attraction.

English Heritage, though, does warn that there is still plenty of work that needs to be done to bring Haworth up to the standard that the village truly deserves.

It is a salutary warning, and one which needs to be taken seriously, but at the same time it shouldn’t detract from the hard work that has been carried out to improve this historic village.

It is a prime example of a community working together with the local authority and other agencies to take pride in their environment and improve the village for both residents and visitors, and should be applauded.