Shoppers and traders are bracing themselves for a shuffle in the parking system in Bingley, as the relief road swallows up the town's biggest car park.

The Midland Hill car park will be closed later in the year to allow the Main Street relief road to run through - and 114 new parking spaces must be found elsewhere.

Some long-stay car parking spaces have moved to the Ferncliffe Road car park and a new mix of around 50 short- and long-stay places will be created off Wellington Street.

Motorists have used the area as an unofficial parking area for years but now Bradford Council is poised to level the derelict land next to the railway station to make official spaces.

David Dinsey, Bingley Town Centre Manager, said the decision to put a proper hard surface at Wellington Street was discussed with people at neighbourhood forums and Council parking and planning departments.

He said: "By clearing and levelling the site we will be able to provide more off-street parking spaces than are currently available there, and generally clean up an area that has been an eyesore for some time."

Kay Adams, from KayKrafts needlecraft shop in Chapel Lane, said parking is a continuous problem in Bingley which affects traders as well as shoppers.

She said some customers had been upset by the recycling bins being moved to spaces on the Victoria Road car park near the magistrates' court - an area where motorists had had two-hours' free parking.

Shopper Kathleen Cockroft, of Harden, said she was angry that seven parking spaces had been fenced off and used for the recycling bins, which she described as a "waste of space".

"The pay-and-display car park has ample space to accomodate these bins," she said. "If the shoppers feel angry, Bingley traders must feel it is another nail in the coffin for their struggling businesses."

A Council car parks spokesman said the new layout on Ferncliffe Road had made it difficult for vehicles to service the recycling banks so they had been moved.

Councillor David Heseltine (Con, Bingley) said: "All three ward councillors continue to work hard to solve Bingley's car parking problems which will worsen with the loss of Midland Hill. The creation of an extended short-stay car park at Wellington Street is the first of several steps we will be taking"

The Chairman of the Better Bingley Campaign, Pat Rand, welcomed the Wellington Street car park, saying it would improve an untidy area.

"Bingley is desperate for more parking spaces so I think this redevelopment will improve the area on both counts," he said.

"We hope the proposed improvements will also promote increased rail travel which would reduce traffic through Bingley."