A meeting to thrash out proposed changes to road policing in Craven has concluded that operational control should stay in Skipton.

The meeting, chaired by Julia Mulligan, who is standing for the county’s police commissioner, favoured the setting up of a major collision team and improved speed enforcement, but with operational control remaining in Skipton.

North Yorkshire Police is currently consulting on changes to its specialist operations units, including traffic.

Its three options, are to leave things as they are, to reduce the number of bases across the county, or to retain some bases, with the inclusion of a specialist collision team and greater speed enforcement at ‘speed hot-spots’.

Mrs Mulligan, who was joined at the meeting on Friday last week by Skipton MP Julian Smith, said she was pleased to talk to Craven residents about their concerns.

“I will shortly be taking their comments to the chief constable and while no final decisions have been made, I do sense that the police are now listening to the views of local people about this very important issue.”

She added that it had been a worthwhile opportunity to discuss general issues of policing.

Mrs Mulligan is the Conservative candidate for the job of police commissioner for North Yorkshire and York.

She is up against Labour candidate Ruth Potter at Thursday’s election.