Can the Lib Dems stand the heat?

As the council now stands, the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups have six seats each, the Conservatives two, and there is just one Independent councillor - the new Mayor, Nigel Francis.

With the support of the Conservatives and Coun Francis, the Liberal Democrats have been able to snatch the chairmanships of all the council's committees from Labour. Apart from the mayor being an Independent, the new Deputy Mayor is a Liberal Democrat.

On paper, the Lib Dems should be able to put into practice what they've been talking about in the last year - a replacement pedestrian bridge across the Wharfe and a new civic centre at the Ashfield works site.

Time will tell over the next year how many of these projects will get off the ground - or even out of the council chamber - which, bearing in mind the atmosphere on Monday, should be the setting for some heated debate in the coming months.

There is little doubt that traffic passing through Horsforth is a nightmare. At some point most people in the area have encountered being stuck in a car on Town Street as a bus tries to squeeze past and a mother and her children tentatively try to cross the road to get to the supermarket.

So the fact that ward councillors have made a breakthrough in a how traffic passes through the area is fantastic news. Even the proposals as they stand at the moment would make shopping and visiting Horsforth a more pleasant experience.

We know that there is crime in the centre of Horsforth, as with anywhere, but Horsforth will really have a chance to shine when people can pass easily through the area as well as being able to actually find the car parks and use them. One thing is for certain, the traffic situation cannot remain as it is. Sooner or later there will be a fatal accident because of the huge amount of traffic on such a narrow and difficult piece of road.