AMBITIOUS plans to transform Skipton include the town's first traffic lights, residents only parking, and cycle and bus lanes.

After six years of surveys and meetings, a comprehensive strategy has been drawn up to overhaul the town's transport system.

Three different options will be put to Craven Area Committee on May 23 and members will decide which to put out to public consultation.

Option A includes upgrading the canal towpath to create a pleasant walk with cycle path into the town centre. The cycle route would divert down Carleton Road to the railway station.

Residents in Middletown, the terraces off Gargrave Road, and Union Street area would be consulted about turning their streets into resident only parking areas.

Plans also show a bus lane along Keighley Road, which is tied into the £500,000 bus station development. Bus routes through the Regents estate and Greatwood and Horse Close would also be improved.

The area committee will discuss creating a proper pedestrian route through Skipton. For example Black Walk from the railway station to the bus station will be made accessible to the disabled.

Numerous accident black spots around the town have been identified for work. Junctions like Craven Street by Tescos, Sackville Street and Keighley Road, Caroline Square, Water Street and Grassington Road are to be made safer for motorists and pedestrians - possibly by installing the town's first traffic lights.

This strategy also proposes disc parking on the High Street, a 20mph limit along Brougham Street and looking again at the traffic calming along Gargrave Road.

Option B is more ambitious and centres on traffic calming measures in all the main residential areas. This would be more expensive than option A.

It includes a "Home Zone" in Middletown, which is a way of reducing the conflict between cars and residents. It is already working successfully in some parts of Leeds.

Traffic speeds would be reduced throughout the town centre by lowering speed limits - without the introduction of speed bumps.

This option looks not only at revamping the bus station but turning it into a "transport hub" for coaches, buses, taxis and community mini buses.

Option C, about which there are not many details at the moment, tries to find a way to get rid of the conflict between pedestrians and cars on Skipton High Street.

County Coun Mike Doyle, a member of the traffic management committee, said: "We now have for the first time a strategy for the whole of Skipton. We have got a route map for discussion."

He said the work had involved input from many different agencies including councillors, highways officials, bus companies and Tescos.

Going out to public consultation in the near future are traffic calming measures for the Keighley Road area. These proposals include a 30mph limit from the roundabout at Skipton Ford into town and a roundabout at the Snaygill Industrial Estate junction.

For a long time people working on the estate have been complaining about the length of time it takes to pull out safely from the estate on to the busy Keighley Road.

It will also ask for residents' views on installing traffic lights at the Keighley Road and Carleton Road junction with a pedestrian phase to help people get across to the hospital.