PEOPLE in Ilkley showed their determination to save the Coronation Hospital from closure at a packed meeting at the Town Hall last week and already the campaign is picking up pace.

Parish councillors, health care professionals, social

services representatives, health charity workers and other interested people agreed that plans to close the hospital should be opposed from the beginning.

Hospital chiefs announced their proposal to close the hospital in Springs Lane at a recent trust meeting. They are hoping the move, along with the closure of Bingley Hospital, will help them get rid of the budget overspend.

As soon as the plan was announced widespread opposition began to grow, culminating in a meeting of people determined to reject it.

At the meeting, parish council chairman Michael Gibbons said the meeting had been called at short notice to discover the best way of co-ordinating the campaign.

Parish council member and District Councillor Anne Hawkesworth said: "The fact that so many people are here shows the strength of feeling within the town. We have to maintain the services within the Coronation Hospital. I will do my level best to make sure we retain these services for Ilkley, in Ilkley."

Former parish and district councillor Barbara Cussons said: "A town this size needs a hospital."

But a doctor who runs clinics at the Coronation Hospital said the 97-year-old building had many drawbacks.

"I don't think we should focus on the building, we should focus on the services. We should forget about buildings," said Dr Jim Howe.

He said it cost more to provide health services at Ilkley than it did to provide the same services under one roof at Airedale Hospital, Steeton, near Keighley.

But Mrs Cussons asked if anyone at the meeting had problems with the building itself, no-one responded.

Coun Gibbons said that the meeting needed to clarify whether people wanted to fight to retain just the services the hospital provided, or the services and the hospital itself.

People agreed that they wanted to retain them both, but some members of the gathering suggested campaigning for a brand new hospital on the site to complement the new Springs Health Centre, as well as expanded services for local people.

But it was decided that the campaign should concentrate for the moment in trying to prevent the closure of the present hospital.

Coun Gibbons said: "We must start right away with a very active campaign because momentum is growing."

Volunteers came forward to offer to distribute a petition in Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale and Menston. It will also be distributed in Addingham.

The petition says: "We, the undersigned, object most strongly to the proposed closure of Ilkley's Coronation Hospital and the potential loss of the services provided. We believed the hospital should remain open and retain the services currently provided."

A small committee is also in the process of being formed with the intention of co-ordinating the campaign to save the hospital.

Chief executive of the Airedale NHS Trust, Bob Allen, told the Gazette that in order to balance its books and make up for a £1.6 million budget deficit, the board were proposing to curtail the services at Coronation Hospital.

The hospital, which is almost 100-years-old, provides a wide range of services to Ilkley people, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, chiropody, family planning, a young persons' clinic and the treatment of minor injuries.

Parish councillors are hoping as many people and representatives of as many groups as possible from the area will join ranks to oppose the closure.

Further meetings are planned with professionals and interested groups and the parish council has invited Mr Allen to a meeting to explain the Trust board's position.

Yesterday, Coun Gibbons said that the petition had already attracted a large number of signatures from residents worried about

the possible loss of the

hospital.

The Ilkley Gazette has given its full backing to the campaign and anyone who has not signed the petition yet and wants to, can call in at the office on Wells

Road where there is one available.