A SKIPTON councillor has welcomed work to de-silt a section of the town's Eller Beck.

North Yorkshire county councillor Andy Solloway, who represents Skipton West, said a contractor for the Environment Agency was dredging a silted-in section of Eller Beck, off Shortbank Road and near the popular walking area The Wilderness.

Cllr Solloway, who lives on nearby Sunmoor Drive, said: "I've been hassling the EA to clean up the gully behind Shortbank Road for the last two years. It's been a battle but I'm pleased it's finally being done."

He explained: "The area before Eller Beck goes under Shortbank Road has silted up and residents have been asking me to see if I could get it cleaned up. It's probably been 15 years since it's been done.

"The work is being doing very sensitively and carefully," added Cllr Solloway. "They use a vacuum machine to gently suck up the silt so they don't cause any damage to the ecosystem downstream."