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The Leader of the Council provided written
responses as well as an oral response to Question 5 to the
following public questions that had been submitted:
 
Question 1
 
What action is being taken to
ensure the preservation of the Grade 2* listed Cotton Mill on Low
Mill Lane in Keighley, which is also regionally significant as
Yorkshire’s oldest Cotton Mill?
 
Response
 
Council Officers are aware that
various third parties are actively looking at proposals which would
involve conversion of the Grade II* listed building to the east of
Gresley Road, known both as the Old Cotton Mill and Low Mill,
although we are not currently dealing with any live planning
applications. Our planning enforcement team have been involved in
the recent past to ensure that the Grade II* listed Old Cotton Mill
remains in a safe condition, but there has been no recent activity
or notice served. Our Building Control team periodically check the
condition of the building to assess if it presents any danger to
the public. At present it is not considered dangerous, but we
continue to carefully monitor the status of the
property.
 
Separately the Council has
highlighted the importance of bringing the Old Cotton Mill back
into use as part of its vision for the future of Keighley as part
of its wider town centre regeneration programme and are working
with partners and funding organisations to determine ways forward
for bring the mill back into use.
 
 
Question 2
 
Has the Council considered the
impact that the removal of the dedicated bus service to St
Bede's/St Joseph's and subsequent increase of pupils on public
transport may have and the additional time this would add to the
journey for children, how do the Council plan to work with First
Bus to manage the large numbers of children that would be leaving
sites at St Bede's and St Joseph's at 3:30 which could lead to
safety issues particularly due to the narrow footpath on Keighley
Road where the public bus stop is located as well as overcrowding
on the existing public bus services and constant bus services
cancellations?
 
 
Response
 
Following the consultation any
recommendations and views will be taken into
account and more detailed work will need to be carried out
in relation to locations (school sites), pickups, and transport
provision. Although an options appraisal was carried out
previously, journeys may have changed due to the new academic year
and new pupils/leavers will need to be factored into
this.
 
The Council is and will
continue to work with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the
schools to address issues that may arise as a
result of these proposals.
 
Question 3
 
We know that pressure on
secondary school places in Bradford over the next three years is
significant. Parents being unable to send their young people to St
Bede’s and St Joseph’s will inevitably put significant
pressure on secondary school places in other schools across the
City leading to an increased cost for the council in creating
capacity for all these additional pupils. In the light of the
council’s potential decision to remove the dedicated school
transport to St Bede’s and St Joseph’s, to ease the
councils financial outgoings in the short term, can Council explain
what due diligence and impact assessment has been undertaken to
balance this short term gain for the council, against the risk of a
school closure of one of largest Catholic schools in the country
which provides a high quality education for a significant number of
families in the City. It is clear if these cuts were undertaken
families would be unable to send their young people to the school
for financial, safeguarding and logistical problems.
 
Response
 
This is consultation and as
such the Council is listening to all stakeholders before
making a decision.  Both schools are very much valued as part of the
Bradford district family of schools. 
However, the costs of this subsidised transport has escalated to such an extent that it has to be
considered as part of the council’s financial
planning. 
 
The school draws children
from all over the city and serves both local and district wide
families, as attendance at this school is often a parental
preference. 
 
We don’t anticipate a
reduction in applications for school places at this good school as
the school is oversubscribed year on year. An equality impact
assessment has been produced and will be further worked on during
the consultation period.
 
As part of the consultation
alternative, commercial bus services that can be taken from all
areas of Bradford to the school have to be looked at as well as any
restrictions in young people accessing routes to
school. Commercial train travel options are also considered
during the review.
 
As part of the consultation
CBMDC will continue to work with WYCA to look at all routes in
terms of availability and capacity.
 
 
Question 4 –
Deferred at the request of the resident.
 
 
 
Question 5
What assurances can the Leader
of Council and the Portfolio Holder give to local businesses who
have been impacted by the introduction of parking charges in Idle,
and who are concerned about the future viability of their business
due to loss of trade?”
 
Response
 
The Council will continue to
review income and occupancy levels at The Green car park in Idle
and considers any information submitted as part of that
process.
 
Car parks play an essential
role in the careful management of our rural and urban centres. They
can help encourage a healthy turnover of vehicles and shoppers to
support the viability of local businesses. We understand the
concern people in Idle may have on these and other proposals,
however, given the financial situation at local authorities across
the country we're having to consider many difficult decisions in
the budget.
 
Car parks are not free for
Councils to maintain and the vast majority
of council owned car parks across the district have parking
charges. This includes our village and town centres like Haworth,
Silsden, Shipley, Bingley and Baildon.
 
The charges were introduced on
1 October 2024, this was followed by a 2-week monitoring period and
enforcement didn’t commence until 15th October. We regularly
monitor levels of usage for all car parks, however it is too soon to collect data from
this particular location. There are number on-street locations
available in Idle village where parking is not restricted, this
offers options for visitors who wanted to visit the businesses and
not use the car park.