You only have to scan this week's local news to see how the Tour de France, months ahead of it actually beginning, is already dominating the agenda. Schoolchildren across Wharfedale and Aireborough, and no doubt the rest of the country, are getting stuck into a variety of projects to make sure the Grand Depart is celebrated in style when it passes through on Saturday, July 5.

Those range from the yellow floral displays pupils at The Whartons Primary, in Otley are planting to the large street banners art project children in Pool-in-Wharfedale, guided by professional artists Karen and Tony van de Bospoort, are creating.

But the Tour’s arrival also has the potential to cause or highlight problems – as last week’s story about the disruption caused to local businesses by Tour-related roadworks demonstrated all too clearly. This week has thrown up another potential ‘fly in the ointment’ in the form of Otley’s former Summercross Inn, which faces right out onto the Tour’s Pool Road route into town.

The property has been boarded up and fenced off since 2009 yet is still waiting to be converted into a care home by Westward Care some five years later.

It looks, to put it bluntly, in a sorry state – though ‘eyesore’ or ‘dilapidated’, to choose two of the words used this week by those calling for it to be tidied or redeveloped before the Tour arrives, would apply just as well. The prospect of it being the first thing the world’s top road cyclists, not to mention the millions of TV viewers watching them, see of Otley is an intolerable one. So we can only hope that Westward Care are as good as their word and give the building a proper, thorough tidy-up beforehand – and then, finally, focus on actually creating the care home they apparently want on the site.

We are in no doubt that a plethora of Tour-centred stories – positive, negative and somewhere in between – are still to emerge between now and July.

Good for commuters

It is certainly good news for commuters that car parking charges at many local rail stations will now not be imposed.

Thanks to an intervention by MP Stuart Andrew, the Secretary of State for Transport has agreed that when franchises to manage stations such as Menston and Guiseley are awarded, paid parking will not form part of the deal.

We are constantly being told that public transport is the better option – it keeps cars off the roads, reduces congestion and is all round more environmentally friendly. But we will only encourage people to use buses and trains if we make it as easy as possible for them – as inexpensive as possible, regular services, and clean, efficient vehicles.

It is not always possible for everyone who is using trains to walk to their local station, and it is preferable that these people make a short journey in their car to the transport hub rather than making their whole journey on the road.

This is why parking charges at small stations could cause commuters and leisure travellers to flee back to their cars in droves – if it ultimately costs more, people will fall back on the easiest option.

So this is a victory for common-sense, but commuters must not be hit by charges brought in the back door – such as hefty ticket price rises – to compensate for any projected loss of income through the lack of parking charges being brought in.