Ilkley Parish Council will be charged for holding more than one meeting a month at Ilkley Town Hall under new management arrangements brought in by Bradford Council.

The local council will be asked to pay £18 per hour to use the hall for additional evening meetings in future.

It will be allowed to use the Council Chamber free of charge for just one meeting a month.

Parish councillors have asked to see a breakdown of the figures for the charges – and chairman, Councillor Mike Gibbons, has called on councillors to encourage the use of the building and not consider moving meetings elsewhere.

He said: “If we abandon this room and start to go down that process, I think that will lead people to believe this building could be moved on.”

Bradford Council is bringing in a new access system at the historic town hall, in Station Road, which was originally built as the home of Ilkley Urban District Council.

Most Bradford Council services have now been moved from the building, leaving just Ilkley Parish Council’s clerk’s office, Ilkley Visitor Information Centre, an automated help point, and weekly registrar sessions.

Access to the hall will be by swipe card, with a telephone point in reception.

The hall’s caretaker will not be permanently based in the building, and is expected to spend time working at council premises elsewhere.