ILKLEY businesses are to receive special parking permits for their employees as part of Bradford Council’s Ilkley Parking review.

The special permits, which will be free for the first six months to all Ilkley town centre businesses, are intended to ease the transition to the new scheme.

The council is also developing a number of initiatives to reduce commuter parking pressures in the area. Up to £150,000 has been secured to develop plans for a park and ride scheme at Ben Rhydding train station creating up to 200 additional parking spaces, and the car park at Steeton and Silsden station will be expanded by building an additional level in a £2m scheme which will add over 100 new spaces.

To encourage sustainable transport, the authority will be installing new bike shelters in the town centre and working with local cycling groups to see what else can be done to encourage more cycling.

The council will also work with bus companies to see whether improvements can be made to local services and how more people can be encouraged to use the bus.

The new developments follow an extensive public consultation and discussions with interested parties including the Ilkley Business Improvement District (BID) development board.

An independent review commissioned by the Council in 2017 made seven recommendations which include:

• protecting on street parking for use by short stay shoppers and encourage turnover

• introducing resident parking schemes to reduce excessive parking in residential areas

• increasing tariffs at South Hawksworth Street car park and reinvest additional income into parking facilities

• improving Blue Badge parking provision

• reviewing the business permit scheme with a view to reducing business permit parking provision

• improving presentation and coordination of alternative travel options

• undertaking an urban realm study to identify ways of improving the pedestrian environment

Proposals were drawn up which featured:

• on-street pay and display including both long stay and short stay spaces

• a residents’ permit parking scheme

• shared residents’ permit parking and pay and display parking

• a new taxi rank on Station Road allowing end-to-end public transport journeys for people with disabilities

• a significantly increased number of disabled parking bays in the town centre to improve accessibility

• limited waiting areas

• a new loading bay for local businesses

• several ‘no waiting at any time’ zones in new locations

The proposals make no changes to the total number of long and short stay spaces which will remain the same.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, said: “Ilkley’s parking problems are well documented and it was in response to these that we commissioned the external review. It’s the review’s recommendations we are proposing to implement.

“The issues residents around the town centre have in parking near their homes are well known, as are issues around commuting and obstructions caused by inconsiderate parking. The proposals should help alleviate these and we’re continuing to engage with residents and groups to see if any further tweaks can be made to address any other concerns.

“We’ve also been able to introduce a number of other improvements for the town centre. By relocating the taxi rank to the front of the station and increasing the number of disabled parking bays throughout the town centre, we will make Ilkley far more accessible for people with disabilities.

“We’re pleased to offer the special permits for business employees to ease the impact of the proposals. This was something the Ilkley BID Development Board in particular were keen to discuss with us.

“We’ll be working with the bus companies to see what more can be done to encourage people to use public transport, which should become more reliable due to the changes proposed that limit parking on tight corners. The secure cycle shelters were referenced in the original parking review after discussions with the Ilkley Cycling Club.

“The park and ride schemes at Ben Rhydding and Steeton and Silsden stations will take some time to develop but should provide better parking for commuters who are currently coming into Ilkley and parking there – sometimes for days on end – while they go to work in Bradford, Leeds or London.

“One thing we’ve tried to be very clear on is that we will continue to monitor the situation closely once any proposals are implemented, and if we need to make further changes to ease any issues around parking then we will do.”

The Council has received nearly 400 formal comments and objections to the Traffic Regulation Orders and say they will be carefully looking at all of these over the coming weeks.

The deadline for the objections was noon on Friday, March 1. Those that missed the deadline will be passed to the team for informal consideration.