At a public meeting tonight, the town council, supported by the Malton and Pickering Mercury, is officially launching Pride in Pickering – and we want the whole community to get behind it.

The campaign was born last year when the council set up a working party to look at what improvements could be made in the town.

This prompted the Mercury to go on a walkabout in the town centre with the mayor, Cllr Julie Hepworth.

She pointed to abandonned traffic cones, “tatty” noticeboards, “flourishing” rooftop gardens in gutterings and litter – all of which demonstrated and air of neglect, she said.

And at the same time a number of other issues were bubbling in the town –

l A-boards and produce displays on footpaths creating a hazard for the blind and partially sighted, for pushchairs and for wheelchairs

l the controversy over the closure of the Market Place to traffic on Monday market days

l the demand for public and resident parking areas

l traffic congestion, especially in the summer peak period

l the problem of litter, dog mess and pigeon droppings

l rubbish being thrown in the beck

l anti-social behaviour, especially on Friday and Saturday nights

l cigarette ends being dropped outside pubs and bars by smokers barred from the habit inside

The council’s working party has now drafted a report with their findings on all these issues and more, along with an action plan which will be presented to tonight's annual town meeting in the memorial hall – and Cllr Hepworth is urging local people and traders to attend.

She said: “There will be a general discussion with a question and answer session so everybody has a chance to air their views.

“Pickering is a good place to live and Pickering in Bloom is doing a wonderful job, but it’s a question of pulling everything together to make it better and everybody pulling together.

“We want people to come and join us and get involved in whatever way they can to help us make Pickering a town we can all be proud of – even if they just sweep in front of their houses and shops as they used to do in the olden days, it all helps.”

The town meeting in the memorial hall at 7pm tonight will also include a presentation to Millie Barnes of Pickering Junior School, who was overall winner and under 10 winner of the town council’s contest to design a Pride in Pickering logo. Winner of the over 10 age group was Douglas Faulds of St Joseph’s RC Primary School.