A MAJOR new scheme which would radically alter Skipton town centre is being considered by Craven District Council.

Described as a "vision for the future" the scheme involves redeveloping the Town Hall site and digging down to create a multi-tiered car park at the rear.

All council offices would be brought onto one site and other public agencies would be encouraged to move in, creating a one-stop shop for public services rather than the inconvenience of having to trail round several sites.

A new arts centre and heritage museum would also be created on the site which would have to be extended at the back, over the car park.

A major consideration has been the large sums of local taxpayers' money which has to be poured every year into patching up outdated, inadequate buildings which are in a poor state of repair.

The plan was unveiled at a committee meeting of the council this week by Robert Heseltine, who said it had been discussed behind the scenes by several civic figures.

"It is time to be brave. Local authorities are not just about emptying dustbins, they are there to guide the community into new eras. We are the civic leaders and people expect us to lead, you have to be visionary," said Coun Heseltine.

He then unveiled the plan which he split into three parts:

1 A single site on the High Street based on the council's existing properties for Craven District Council, bringing together other services.

2 Building a new town hall car park by digging down to create several tiers, thus avoiding destroying the environment.

3 A new heritage museum and arts centre on the site.

"Back in the 80s there was substantial thought which went into improving Skipton as the capital of Craven through land transfers," said Coun Heseltine.

"We got the auction mart to move to the outskirts of town on a modern, purpose-built site. It would not have survived the present crisis in the farming industry if it had stayed on its old site.

"We got Skipton Building Society to commit themselves further to the town and move to the Bailey and now there are more than 1,000 jobs there, back then there were only 250 or so.

"That was the sort of confidence we had back in the 80s and that's the sort of confidence we need to have in the new millennium. It's what the public are looking to us for."

His comments were supported by Carl Lis.

He said: "The time has come where we need to look at our facilities and ask what are we going to do with them? Do we want everything under one roof or do we want to just keep throwing money down the drain patching things up. Let's take a bold step, let's look at it."

Coun Heseltine claimed that 11.3 acres of land in Skipton was devoted to car parks, almost all of it in the town centre with a small portion at Aireville. That was an area greater than in Leeds, but Skipton had far fewer spaces. Land was not being used efficiently.

He also said that the new Dales Countryside Museum was bringing thousands of visitors to Hawes and a similar project in Skipton could be similarly attractive.

"Hawes is a boom town, Skipton should be the same," he said.

The meeting was told that the figures for maintaining the town hall were "frightening" and there were real problems in the pipeline, such as making them accessible to the disabled. Now could be the time to spend to reduce those annual costs.

Coun Lis, the manager at Ingleton quarry, said: "There comes a time when you have to spend. We did that at the quarry and in the long run it was the right decision and I've a feeling that we have come to that point here in Skipton."

A report will now go to the full council calling for an internal appraisal of the project's feasibility.

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