FEARS and concerns about the Renaissance process in Skipton were aired at the local area forum meeting.

The meeting, held in Skipton Town Hall, was an opportunity for residents to hear about the progress of the "vision" and Ben Aspinall from GVA Grimley, the property advisors working with Craven District Council, told members about the planned core projects.

These include:

o the revitalisation of the bus station;

o the transformation of the canal basin into a restaurant, retail and leisure Mecca; and

o the construction of a multi-storey car park on the Cavendish Street car park.

He said: "We need the right balance between ambition and vision and actually delivering on the ground."

Mr Aspinall explained that exhibitions would be held in November and there would be ample opportunity for residents to be involved in the plans through a rolling programme of consultation.

The building of a joint centre for council services on the Coach Street car park evoked many comments, including fears that it would create extra traffic around Gargrave Road and that control of the building could slip out of the council's hands through any forthcoming changes in the structure of local government.

However Coun Paul English said if Skipton had a centre suitable for housing the council, it would stand a greater chance of keeping services within the town.

Other residents voiced their concerns that members of the Renaissance team, which answers to the Local Strategic Partnership, were not representative of the town and the team had not been assembled democratically.

Another person claimed that people knew nothing about organisations such as GVA Grimley and the tax payer's money was being wasted while nothing was being done.

Chief executive Gill Dixon said that Craven District Council had no other agenda other than to benefit Skipton and Craven and that was underlined by the fact it had put forward its assets for development, such as its Granville Street headquarters.

She said that they were only at the beginning of the process and there would be plenty more chances for people in the town to be involved.

"We think there's some interesting ideas to be explored for the good of the town."