IT is disappointing that the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has opted to take a firm line on A-boards which stand on streets advertising local shops.

It argues that consent has been required for years and the fact that the traders have been allowed to get away with it in the past is no reason why it should not enforce the regulations.

But the authority has taken an unusually heavy hand. Its stance will act to the detriment of small shops which enhance the character of those picture postcard Dales villages just at a time when a new report warns that the Tescos of this world and internet shopping are posing a fresh menace to village shops.

The problem is not new and has cropped up from time to time in Skipton. One board goes up, another follows and soon they are plastered all over the place, tied to lampposts and cluttering the streets, posing an obstacle to pedestrians.

The wise course is to draw attention to the problem, ask traders to rein in their creative instincts and tuck their signs into corners.

Perhaps this is the national park's intention and its letter to traders is just an opening gambit. Maybe it hopes shopkeepers will be a little more restrained, the number and placing of A-boards will be less obtrusive and the authority can go back to letting sleeping dogs lie. But if it does intend to act with an iron fist, then it will suffer a public relations disaster.

Little Langcliffe is owed some time

THE County Hall knives are out for little Langcliffe School. The county council's executive votes next week on a recommendation to close the school as soon as possible. The school wants five years to prove it has a future and has already made a successful start in proving its worth.

The school, its governors and parents deserve a fighting chance. If they fail then closure is unavoidable - but they need to have a period with no axe poised above their head. The decision could be a foretaste of what is to come for Craven if district councils are scrapped and we are run from Northallerton.

Intriguingly a key figure on the executive making the decision is former Skipton MP John Watson. Will he stick the knife into his former constituents?