Ilkley’s Nell Bank Centre is just one of the many local gems which enhances the area and provides a very useful service to both the community and visitors.

Sitting quietly on rural Denton Road, the centre plays host to a great many children every year, both from local schools and schools throughout the Bradford district. For some children, this is a welcome break in the countryside. But even for those who see Wharfedale’s scenery every day, there is a chance to appreciate the natural environment, and to learn much more about it.

While activities organised at the centre are educational, and encourage teamwork, they could hardly be further from the classroom environment. Visitors to Nell Bank are encourage to explore, solve problems, and above all, enjoy these activities. And while it might sound like a challenge to make sure an outdoor centre can cater for visitors with physical disabilities, care has been taken over many years to make sure this is the case, and activities of many types are accessible to visitors of different abilities.

The most remarkable thing about this centre is that is remains hidden in Wharfedale’s green landscape, despite the thousands of people who visit it every year, both children and adults.

Big additions to the facilities now planned include an imaginative Iron Age roundhouse, imitating the kind of building our ancestors may have occupied, and, of course, a replacement dormitory to provide up-to-the-minute accommodation facilities. And yet these projects are fully expected to fit firmly into the landscape occupied by the Nell Bank Centre. Equipped with so many good facilities, the centre is surely progressing admirably towards being entirely self-funding in future – and at no cost to the local landscape which, after all, is such an attraction in the first place.

Good for commuters

It is certainly good news for commuters that car parking charges at many local rail stations will now not be imposed.

Thanks to an intervention by MP Stuart Andrew, the Secretary of State for Transport has agreed that when franchises to manage stations such as Menston and Guiseley are awarded, paid parking will not form part of the deal.

We are constantly being told that public transport is the better option – it keeps cars off the roads, reduces congestion and is all round more environmentally friendly. But we will only encourage people to use buses and trains if we make it as easy as possible for them – as inexpensive as possible, regular services, and clean, efficient vehicles.

It is not always possible for everyone who is using trains to walk to their local station, and it is preferable that these people make a short journey in their car to the transport hub rather than making their whole journey on the road.

This is why parking charges at small stations could cause commuters and leisure travellers to flee back to their cars in droves – if it ultimately costs more, people will fall back on the easiest option.

So this is a victory for common-sense, but commuters must not be hit by charges brought in the back door – such as hefty ticket price rises – to compensate for any projected loss of income through the lack of parking charges being brought in.