Skipton folk can be excused a certain amount of cynicism when they ponder the latest traffic management scheme now up for consultation. The last one spent a lot of money - £80,000 we recall - and came up with very little.

This latest exercise certainly has more radical ideas, the most eye catching being the option to move all the stalls into the centre of the High Street and routing the traffic down either side.

It is only 10 years since an agreement was reached stating that the owners of the buildings on the High Street (such as the Craven Herald) owned the sett frontage. They have been paying a not inconisderable sum for the pleasure ever since (and defraying this by charging the stall holders rent). That understanding was reached only after long and potentially expensive legal arguments which seem to have been ignored.

No doubt too the market traders will have their bit to say about any changes to the status quo.

Widely welcomed for local residents will be the recommendations for residents-only parking schemes. But as Craven has only one traffic warden, working part-time how on earth will it be policed? And if commuters are forced into Coach Street car park all day, then it will be full by 9am and where will the visitors go?

The fact is that while pedestrian safety is not to be sniffed at, in reality accidents in Skipton are few and far between. A great deal of time and money is being spent on making the streets safer: very laudable but there are diminishing returns for the money spent.

Nor does Skipton have a traffic problem. If anyone thinks the bit of a queue on High Street about 5pm every day is a jam they should try visiting Leeds at that time.

What Skipton does have is a parking problem. There simply are not enough spaces (try walking round the main car parks on a warm Saturday afternoon and take pity on the poor visitors driving round and round desperately waiting for a spot to become vacant).

The options in the latest consultation exercise are all very well. They will perhaps make some marginal improvement to flows. But until someone grasps the nettle and digs down into the current car parks to create a multi-storey facility, most of it beneath the existing surface then there will be no benefits for the economic well-being of the town. Indeed, with residents-only zones, it may even be detrimental.