AFTER much consultation and finalising of contracts, a special community bus for Otley and its surrounding villages is due to get under way.

The three-year £960,000 project is being billed as providing much needed links between villages including Farnley, Askwith and Arthington with the central market town of Otley. But not only will it bring people into the town, it will also transport commuters into Holt Park - and on to Leeds - and act as a school bus for children getting to the after school club in Cross Green.

No ordinary bus, it will also go out of its way to collect people with walking difficulties, take people shopping to Safeways and will carry out a parcels and prescription pick-up service. Metro says the bus, which will be run by Aztecbird, will also be available for community use in the evenings - for whatever groups might want it. How successful the bus is will depend on people making the most of it.

It may be only one bus, but it is a start and a very positive move in the right direction, but if it goes unused, it will cease to exist and there will be no point in people complaining in the future about the dreadful state of public transport.

OTLEY Town Mayor Nigel Francis will be armed with a brush and clad in his overalls as he helps give the town an early 'spring clean' this weekend. Hoping to succeed where Leeds City Council's LEAP clean-up programme has so far failed, Coun Francis will lead from the front when he launches a new monthly voluntary 'litter pick' in Craven Street on Sunday.

Aimed at simply making the town a more pleasant place to live in, the project's success will depend completely on the level of public support it receives.

The idea of giving up a few hours of precious 'leisure time' on a Sunday morning to pick up garbage from the street may be a hard one for many people to swallow - especially in these dark winter months.

But let's hope some hardy souls, including other members of the town council who would set a good example, do venture out to help the Mayor both this Sunday and in the future.

We all stand to benefit from living in a tidier town, so we should all be willing to lend the occasional hand.