THERE is a distinct lack of Christmas cheer in Otley as we enter the festive season.

Thanks to vandals who wrecked Otley's admittedly tired old decorations earlier in the year, our lights look even more dismal than ever before.

We could of course, talk about what drives people to smash a few fairy lights, but it's hardly worth the effort.

What these sad individuals have left us with, however, is more worthy of discussion. Otley residents and traders are feeling particularly short-changed this year over the state of the festive displays. They look to the city centre of Leeds to see a multitude of flashing, sparkling, all-singing, all-dancing decorations on a par with Oxford Street, and quite rightly feel hard done by.

Leeds is a highly successful city, generating millions of pounds every week and forging ahead as one of the country's top centres. Undoubtedly, any Christmas display should befit such a reputation and it is a fantastic spectacle.

But surely our civic leaders have a duty to their outlying districts. We are as much a part of Leeds as the relatively low proportion of people who actually live in the city centre and who can enjoy the lights on their doorsteps.

It is all part and parcel of the increasing frustration people in the smaller towns surrounding Leeds feel towards the city. Christmas lights may be one of the more frivolous examples, but it is one which demonstrates how people think they are being neglected by an authority far more concerned with the city centre.

We hear it all the time, in planning issues, in complaints over roads which aren't cared for - 'we'd be alright if we lived in Leeds' - people say.

Now they have a chance to put something right by helping Otley Town Council salvage as much of our festive celebrations as they can. And let's face it, with the town centre already struggling to fill empty shops and the gradual increase of charity shops, we need all the help we can get to bring the shoppers in during the busy run-up to Christmas and really have something to celebrate come the New Year.

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