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SKIPTON councillors are hoping investing in a road sweeper will lead to cleaner streets, ice-free pavements and a pride in the town.
The town council is considering spending £25,000 on a second-hand machine and a further around £10,000 for set-up costs, plus training of people to use it.
Councillors plan that the machine will be operated by volunteer residents, keen to see their areas cleaned for the time in several years and to instil a pride in their town.
It is carrying out a survey asking residents for their views, and whether they would like to be involved, before moving forward for a year trial.
Councillors, at the recent meeting of the public services committee, ruled out an offer from North Yorkshire Council for extra street cleaning, at a cost, deciding instead the job would be done better by the town council and volunteers.
Councillor Peter Madeley, who first proposed the idea in 2022, said the second-hand compact road sweeper would have a winter gritter attachment to provide improved additional cleaning of Skipton's back streets, ginnels, lanes and other public areas.
He said it was in response to a reduction in mechanical sweeping of the town by North Yorkshire Council with residents reporting litter, weeds and blocked gullies, and in the winter, icy pavements.
"Over the years, the road cleaning has been reduced. They (North Yorkshire Council) don't do back streets, they only do the main roads," he said.
Using volunteers will help with the cost, he said, but there would have to be set-up costs and a lot of training involved, maintenance and insurance.
"It will be a real benefit for the people of Skipton to see their streets clean, especially in places where they have not been cleaned for years. I want to put pride back in our town."
To buy a new machine would be around £100,000, he said, but the machines he had looked at were around £20,000, and if the council kept it for a year, it could be re-sold for about £15,000, he said.
The machines are ex-council with full service records.
Cllr Brian McDaid proposed asking residents whether they would support the scheme and whether they would be interested in volunteering to operate the machine.
Members voted to move ahead with the survey of residents before bringing it back to public services and hopefully full council in the new year.
A report to the committee detailed how the machine could also be used to clean the High Street setts for market days and events.