A PACKAGE of experimental new parking restrictions will be introduced across Bingley from today in an attempt to improve safety and ease congestion.

Bradford Council hopes the changes will make areas around schools safer, create some short-stay parking in the town centre and help residents reclaim their streets from commuter parking by introducing a residents' pass scheme.

But even before the trial has started, fears have been raised about the practicalities of the scheme.

One of the areas heavily affected by new double yellow lines are the streets around Trinity All Saints Primary School on Church Street, where the markings have already gone down.

Parent Julie Cooper has to travel more than a mile to take her children, aged four and six, to the school but says there will be no-where to park to drop them off in future.

"It is more than a mile to the school, so I have to drive. It isn't the closest school to us, but we didn't get our first choice of school and we are not the only ones," she said.

"There will be nowhere left for us to park even though we have no option but to drive and parents are concerned about it."

However, Councillor David Heseltine said the aim was to improve traffic management throughout the district.

Minor changes were being introduced around Myrtle Park Primary School and Priestthopre school, he said, to try to keep the access routes clear for those using footpaths.

In the town centre a redundant loading bay near the Post Office would become a 'stop and drop' parking area with a 20 minute maximum stay and streets near the railway station would get residents only parking.

"With it being an experimental order, it will be December when objections are looked at," he said.

"If something is wrong, it can be rolled back a little bit. We will either agree with the objections or agree with the officers, but we cannot pre-judge that."

Ros Dawson, who chairs Bingley Community Council Group, said: “So many people in Bingley and neighbouring communities have questions about the new parking restrictions and feel that Bradford Council hasn’t consulted properly about the new restrictions which will have a big impact across the town.

"Some of the proposals may be exactly what local residents want but there has been no time or opportunity for people to comment on the whole scheme.

" We’ll be writing to the ward district councillors, the city solicitor and the highways department to make them aware of what people are telling us and ask them to make the map and any supporting information available more widely, not just in the library.”