A MAJOR consultation to gather views on improving transport will start this month.

North Yorkshire County Council will spend £300,000 over two years on improving the transport network in Stokesley and Great Ayton, and is seeking residents' views.

The area will be the first of 28 "service centres" - towns and villages that attract people from surrounding areas -to be developed.

The council's transport plan, adopted last year, set out proposals for improving the county's transport network until 2011.

By improving the transport networks around service centres, officials hope it will be easier to access services.

Gordon Gresty, the director of business and environmental services, said: "Among the ideas that have been put forward are pedestrian crossings, traffic-calming measures, additional signing and link footpaths.

"This is a way of addressing local needs and reflecting local concerns by involving everyone in the local community, and it is hoped that as many people as possible will take the opportunity to express their views on the proposals being put forward."

Phil Broomhead, from the council, said: "We need to ask what we can do to improve people's ability to access a service and whether the service be delivered more locally to the people who need it rather than them having to travel to a centre.

"We need to see if there is something that can be done in those centres that would help people access services.

"Most people travel into Stokesley and Great Ayton, Middlesbrough or Northallerton, as car ownership in those areas is very high.

"Where it is not so high, travelling to service centres is more of a problem."

The consultation will begin on Saturday, May 12, with an exhibition in Stokesley Town Hall from 11am to 6pm, with others at the WI Hall, in Great Ayton, and Hutton Rudby Village Hall, both from 3pm to 8pm on Tuesday, May 15.

Questionnaires will be delivered to every resident and business in the area.