The £360,000 of investment that will now come to Otley after local firms voted to form a Business Improvement District will not fix all ills.

Indeed, by today’s standards, the sum itself might not seem overly impressive.

But let’s, just for a moment, forget such understandable reservations and savour the prospect of more than a third of a million pounds being pumped into the town centre over the next five years.

And maybe even offer a thought of thanks to all those businesses who, after voting ‘yes’, will be putting their hands into their pockets to create that funding.

Because that kind of money simply isn’t arriving from other sources in these continuingly austere times – with local councils, for example, hit by massive cuts in central funding, having to focus instead on simply keeping essential services running.

Some of the schemes being considered by the BID team, such as bringing hire boats back on to the river, sound like just the kind of popular move that would surely boost visitor numbers in the summer.

Others might not on the face of it appear so inspirational, but the point is that local businesses themselves (with, of course, the usual statutory checks) will decide how the new money should be spent, and that augurs well.

Because they have a vested interest in making sure every penny is spent wisely and contributes to the BID’s stated goal of improving Otley for traders, residents and visitors alike.

That’s something we could all sign up for and we wish the enterprise every success.