Otley'S Partnership Group has brought in consultants to look at an almost two-mile stretch of the town's riverside. The feeling is that not enough is made of the riverside and that there is potential for so much more.

But what should be done? Otley once drew crowds of day trippers out from across Leeds and Bradford - all coming for the park, the boating on the river, the lido and the bandstand. But now, all that remains in Wharfemeadows, still a major draw, is the children's playpark and the skatepark.

The sheer numbers of people who come into the town still just for the park is testament of its pulling power, but the boating, once so popular, has long gone and never likely to return - a victim of over zealous health and safety regulations.

The bandstand was from a time now past, and the lido was presumably lost because there was neither the will nor the money to keep it going.

So much could be done to rejuvenate the riverside - and this is the first step. The partnership group is asking people to come up with their comments on what they would like to see - whether it's money spent on improving the park, whether a riverside bar at Ashfield Works would be a winner, whether footpaths should be opened, the bridge restored or the footpath replaced.

Others might feel nothing should be done, that the riverside is all right as it is, but whatever people feel, now is the time to comment. The consultation will be worth nothing if people don't have their say, and it will be no use complaining afterwards if something is deemed not right.

It was heartwarming to see so many people giving up an hour or so of their time on Saturday to protest against heavy lorries using Otley as a short cut. It takes a lot to get people to give up precious time - but this is something that people in Otley clearly feel very strongly about.

It also showed what good planning and organisation can achieve.