A DALES community has set out its priorities for the future.

Residents in Grassington say they want affordable homes to be built on existing sites and with more single-bedroom accommodation; more events for all ages to be held at the town hall; at least 12 buses per day to connect with other services; all existing public footpaths to be registered; more dog waste bins and an up-to-date tourist information map.

But they think the village's medical facilities already meet the needs of the community; they believe the village is a safe place to live; and a small majority are against banning parking in The Square.

There was no majority on issues including whether more support was needed locally for people with social needs; whether more recycling facilities were needed; and whether Grassington should have additional traffic-calming measures.

The Grassington Community-Led plan has been put together over the past two years by a steering group of volunteers who sought views from residents on how they want the village to develop.

The consultation included holding open days and distributing leaflets to help identify local concerns, then sending a survey with questions on the topics people had raised to every household in May this year.

Each survey statement invited a tick-box response ranging from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree', with a neutral option. There was also space for comments.

Nearly a third of residents responded to the survey, and the feedback has been summarised and also used to create an action plan, which has been presented to Grassington Parish Council.

"I was very, very pleased that we got a third of the parish to respond," said steering group chairman Barrie Doyle. "It seems the community is interested in what's going on."

But he said the important part was what happened next, and hoped the parish council would now start putting together a neighbourhood plan, a document relating to planning issues which carried more legal weight. "They have got the community-led plan, and we're hoping this inspires them to get on with this neighbourhood plan."

The full plan, along with the methodology used to produce it and responses, was to be placed on the Grassington Hub website at www.grassington.uk.com towards the end of this week, and would also go to local councillors, Craven District Council and the Yorkshire Dales National Park. "Hopefully they will be mindful of what the people of Grassington want when they are making decisions which are related to our area," said Mr Doyle.

He said there were no big surprises in the plan; residents had not wanted additional sites for affordable housing, thinking enough were already available, but were keen that more such homes should be tailored to the needs of young people.

"What really pleased me was how safe people felt it was living in Grassington," he said.