IT may not happen often but this newspaper would like to take the opportunity to wholeheartedly applaud Leeds City Council. The Executive Board, by allowing Prince Henry's Grammar School to keep all of the proceeds from the sale of the old Newall Primary site, has done an unusual and far sighted thing.

Usually local authorities insist on keeping half of the money generated when a school sells an asset, but on this occasion Leeds has agreed to ring-fence the lot to pay for much needed improvements.

After years of under-investment that has come as a welcome relief. Because last year we were faced with the bizarre situation where Prince Henry's was the subject of a wholeheartedly complimentary Ofsted report, and yet the inspectors had to point out that the actual buildings were in a poor state.

We don't know yet exactly how much the school will gain from this sale, but it seems certain it will be enough to fund a very good new science block. Let's hope deputy head teacher John Dean's hopes are justified, and that this is merely the first step towards giving an exceptional school the exceptional facilities it deserves ahead of its 400th anniversary.

Otley councillors are looking for a refund in the £5,000 given to the police to increase the number of police hours spent in the town. They argue that since the city council is now paying the wages of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), there is no need for the town council to continue paying out the cash. The trouble is, the money has already been spent.

A few disgruntled councillors this week complained that the police were less than willing to spend an hour or two going through exactly how the money had been spent, so they should be made to give it back.

Without a doubt, there are a lot more officers on the beat around Otley and Yeadon - exactly what had been asked for. Now, the council is asking for more police hours to be spent on putting together a report on just how the money was spent --something wrong somewhere, perhaps?