A town meeting was held in All Saint’s Church, Ilkley, on Monday evening to discuss issues around people and traffic in Ilkley town centre. Around 60 people participated, representing residents, businesses and other organisations in the town. Ward and Town Councillors were also in attendance and the meeting was hosted by Ilkley Town Council.
A range of views were put forward, mainly on the key issues of the Grove and traffic on Brook Street. On the Grove many different suggestions were made, ranging from pedestrianisation to widening it to allow traffic to flow more freely. On Brook Street ideas differed as to how to balance the relative interests of people and traffic and what sort of crossing arrangements should be put in place.
Many participants supported the idea of slowing traffic through a 20mph zone and some specific suggestions were put forward for improving safety at the Railway Road junction. The meeting finished with a more general discussion on provision for cyclists and pedestrians, and the need for wider stategic planning to make Ilkley town centre a safe, secure and pleasant place for all town users.
Mayor Mark Stidworthy said “We were pleased to hold this meeting and to hear the diversity of views on some of these key issues. We hope this will be the start of a wider discussion and would like as many people as possible to be heard before specific proposals come forward from BMDC for formal consultation.”
Written comments were collected from participants at the close of the meeting, and further comments are welcome.
The aim is to produce a report for presentation at the Ilkley Town Council meeting on Monday June 1. Ilkley residents who were unable to attend the meeting but would like their comments to be considered are invited to send them by email to clerk@towncouncil.ilkley.org by the end of March.