Spectacular home goal

Only a couple of weeks ago a Leeds planner was busy telling town councillors how the city council was keen to promote tourism in the town. Tourism was the way forward, he said, Otley must develop an image for itself and then do everything it could to actively promote it.

The trouble is, that's all a bit difficult without a tourist office. First off,big brother Leeds attempts to make Otley really Leeds by confusing motorists driving into the town and next it diverts all telephone calls made to the Otley tourist office to the Leeds centre.

Casual callers are told the tourist office was chucked out by staff at the newly opened One Stop Shop - which now occupies the old Boroughgate office. Hardly the right attitude and definitely not the kind of image the council should be trying to put across.

And callers to the old office are told with all authority that tourism will soon be handled from the library, and in the meantime there is a display of leaflets just inside the library door - all very well if the part-time library is open.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that even if tourist information does end up in the library it won't be staffed. It will be little more than a selection of dusty leaflets with no-one to give helpful advice.

Our elected members didn't even know of the closure apparently and nor did anyone else in the town. Now, the council will not even comment on it - preferring instead to maintain the 'no comment' approach more usually adopted by celebrities.

The difference here is that the council is a public body, paid for by Otley people - so what right has it not to comment? Otley people have every right to be outraged.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.