JUDGING by the debate in the Herald office, there's going to be some heated discussions in future months over the "vision for Skipton", the ideas for the future of the town brought up by the Renaissance programme.

What sparked us off was the declaration by consultants that a park and ride scheme was "absolutely crucial". Maybe.

The reaction has polarised views - "it'll never work" to "it works admirably in Bath, York, Oxford, Canterbury etc". There are also fairly dramatic ideas for new bridges, pedestrianised zones, redevelopment.

Sadly the turnout for the weekend was hardly spectacular. Skiptonians have a reputation of sitting back and expecting someone, somewhere to do something for them so they can have a good moan about it. In a short space of time the peripheral arguments as to whether the event was publicised sufficiently, or whether too much was spent will fade. What Skipton will be left with is a set of ideas and guidance as to how to bring those ideas to completion - if we decide we want them bringing to completion.

There are two ways of going about regenerating our towns: come up with the ideas and then explore ways of making them happen or come up with a list of obstacles to be overcome before formulating the ideas.

The second method tends to lead up the garden path.