Clean-up project nearly finished

Stone planters are now in place at the edge of the car park and a bench - dedicated to Westgate ironmonger Colin Rawlings - will be put in place next month.

It has been hailed as a great community effort supported by town businesses, groups and councillors.

Stone craftsmen Malcolm Devereux, Bob Lawson and Vernon Rhodes, who built the stepped planters, said they were delighted to be part of the project. Mr Devereux, a member of the folk band Last Orders, said it had been very much a local project.

"The three of us are all locally born and bred and we all went to Otley Secondary School in North Parade.

"We've worked with stone for the past 20 years and we're really pleased to have been asked to do this work."

Mr Rhodes added that Beech Hill had changed a lot since he was a child. "The pavement used to be raised, there were shops and cottages and the car park was, if I remember it correctly, rows of cottages."

Plans to tidy up Beech Hill were first put forward by Otley Chamber of Trade in 1998.

Sylvia Reid, chamber president, said many groups and businesses, chamber members and traders along Westgate had been involved in the project.

"Eight different letters had to be written just for this single project. In the end though, the result is just marvellous and makes it all worthwhile. The feedback we have had so far is really encouraging."

Next month a bench in memory of Colin Rawlings, who used to be with Allans Hardware, will be put in place. A former chamber member, Mr Rawlings died last year.

Peter Heald, chamber treasurer, said the project plans were changed so a bench could be installed between the two planters - almost opposite Mr Rawlings' shop.

"We'd also noticed that many elderly people find the incline on Beech Hill a bit of a struggle. The bench will mean that they will be able to rest there and get their breath back.

"Colin, I am sure, would have been pleased to think that indirectly he continues to look after people's needs."