CLEARLY, a massive effort is needed on behalf of everyone in Otley to improve the town's standing in the Britain in Bloom contest.

At the first round of judging in the spring a noble attempt was made by a small band of residents and councillors to clear the town of litter and spruce the place up.

But despite their best efforts, Otley was once again placed right near the bottom of more than a dozen large towns in Yorkshire.

Just to rub salt in the wound, Otley's glamorous neighbour, Ilkley, was placed joint first in the same group. So what can be done?

Otley is a very different town to Ilkley. It does not have its extensive town centre flowerbeds or wide open spaces - and it doesn't have a dedicated band of people who work throughout the year to make sure the town is looking its best.

There are some notable points - Wharfemeadows Park is surely the jewel in Otley's crown and town centre pub The Bay Horse always looks splendid and has won numerous awards. But clearly, more effort is needed and because of the nature of the town it must be down to businesses and traders to contribute to the overall look of the centre of Otley.

Without planters, hanging baskets and window boxes in their windows, the centre of Otley will just look grey. There are so many empty shops with dirty windows and too much rubbish on the streets - and it is up to all of us to pick up rubbish when we see it.

An Otley resident recently wrote to the paper complaining how dirty, uninspiring and dull Otley looked - particularly when compared to other towns. But it's no good complaining if we're not willing to do anything to improve things.

It's easy to avoid putting up hanging baskets and planters because of the risk of vandals, but in the end we all lose out.

Otley getting a good result in the summer round of Britain in Bloom judging would do us all good and give the town a boost, but we've all got to do our bit, whether it's putting out some plants in pots or picking up litter.

Or at the very least, not leaving any litter of our own!

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.