AFTER resisting traffic lights for a century, Skipton suddenly seems to have fallen for the bug in a big way.

Earlier this year Craven's first set of traffic lights opened not to a fanfare but a large raspberry at the Carleton Road junction with Keighley Road. Now the Civic Society quite rightly raises its concerns about a second set inside a year. These will create a significant change to a part of Skipton which is even older than the castle.

Back in Saxon times, Skiptonians lived in a little hamlet alongside Eller Beck on Mill Bridge. High Street did not exist. The old road to Grassington plunged down to the beck and can still be seen going under the modern road by the Royal Oak pub. Now along come the engineers with their fancy pavements, beeping lights, and other fashionable street furniture. Six stalks with lights on are proposed for this pleasant and historically significant part of town.

Oppose the scheme and you may well be shouted down on the grounds of road safety. This is a popular place for children, heading to the five schools on Gargrave Road, to cross.

Skipton's first set of lights have proved contentious. They have added to the traffic queues, indeed created queues at times and places where none existed before. Can this be a repeat?

Now, our children do have to cross the road and this is not a simple junction for young minds - but do we really need all the lights and crazy paving which are proposed and which the Civic Society frets over? What is wrong with a good old-fashioned but highly effective zebra crossing with a belisha beacon? One situated on the Royal Oak side of the junction would do the trick.

Or why not simply employ a lollipop lady?