Ilkley Town Councillors say their are taken aback by the strength of feeling of Ilkley residents opposing Bradford Council's proposed changes to parking charges.
Following Bradford Council's notification to Ilkley residents of their intention to remove the one hour free parking, to extend the charging period to 8pm and to charge on Bank holidays, Ilkley Town Council (ITC) held an Extraordinary meeting on 17th June.
At the Extraordinary meeting ITC agreed to ask Bradford Council to extend the consultation period beyond the statutory 21 days ending on 2nd July. ITC also resolved to assist in the collation & submission of a petition of residents and customers of Ilkley businesses.
The Ilkley BID coordinated the objections of most business owners to the proposed changes.
The result of all of this effort is that, (despite Bradford Council declining to extend the consultation period), 1,558 residents signed Bradford Council's epetition and 2,753 residents signed the local paper petition. That means that over 4,000 residents have registered their objection to the proposed changes.
The epetition will be debated at the next monthly Bradford Council meeting on Tuesday 8th July. ITC should like to encourage Bradford Council to take account of the views of over 4,000 business and Council tax payers by reconsidering the proposed changes.
An Ilkley Town Council spokesperson said:
"We’ve been overwhelmed with the response and the strength of feeling about this issue in our community. Residents and businesses are deeply concerned about the detrimental impact this will have on the town and its people. We urge Bradford Council to really listen to concerns and to drop the proposed changes to parking charges in Ilkley’."

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