THE Ilkley BID is calling for all town centre businesses, residents and visitors to complete a new survey to gather data on the impact of the new parking scheme.

Helen Rhodes, Manager of Ilkley BID Ltd said: “There have already been numerous polls and requests for people to give their opinions on the impact of the new scheme. We are positioning this as a piece of formal research which will be presented to Bradford Council for them to include as part of their ongoing assessment. We have always said that once the scheme had been running for 2 to 3 months we would ask people to complete a survey to gather factual data about who is seeing the benefits and who is suffering as a result of the changes.

“Whilst the prime focus of Ilkley BID is to represent the businesses in the town centre, the local infrastructure means that businesses and residents are to a large extent co-dependent. Most of the cafes and shops wouldn’t survive without the local customers and people who live here don’t want to be in a town with lots of empty units so it is important to hear from everyone who has an interest in the town thriving and remaining a great place to live.”

Sarah Siddons, voluntary BID Director, added: “We have always been concerned about the effect of the scheme on the businesses we represent and promised to monitor the impact on them. We know that some are not seeing any noticeable change whereas others are reporting a seriously worrying drop in takings since the scheme was introduced. The BID is in regular contact with some of the District Councillors and we have also talked to the residents action group and the Town Council so what we are hoping to achieve here is a result that will show tangible evidence of how the changes are affecting all parties. It is therefore important to hear from those who live outside the area where restrictions have been imposed and from others who visit Ilkley as well as local businesses and town centre residents.”

The survey can be accessed online by visiting the following link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/IlkBIDParking or by sending an email to parking@ilkleybid.co.uk which will generate an automatic reply containing the survey link. For those without internet access, a paper copy of the survey will be available at the following locations from Monday, November 4:Outside The Box Community Café on Bridge Lane, Lishman’s Butchers on Leeds Road, Stowe Family Law offices at The Grove (Monday to Friday) and from outside the BID office at the entrance to the Town Hall.

Completed forms should be returned to Ilkley BID using the envelope provided and posted through the letter box at Ilkley Town Hall on Station Road or can be dropped in at the BID Office on Tuesday afternoons 1.00 to 4.30pm or Wednesday mornings 8.30am to noon when the office will be open. The survey will close on Friday, November 22.