PARISH councillors in Ilkley are considering taking legal action against transport bosses for failing to consult them over plans to build a coach park in the town.

The row was sparked after Bradford Council withdrew a plan for two designated coach parking bays on Middleton Avenue after receiving five objections. It was a massive blow for the parish council which had been campaigning for better coach parking in the town for 15 years.

At a full council meeting on Monday, Councillor Pat Stevenson suggested the council look into taking legal action against Bradford Council.

"The worry is that the democratic process has been overturned," she said. "I'd like to propose that we ask the Yorkshire (Loca)l Councils Association for some legal advice."

The council agreed that the authority had acted undemocratically in dismissing the plan on the basis of a handful of objections - only four of them from Ilkley residents.

Parish clerk Miggy Bailey was asked to write to the Yorkshire Local Councils Association to find out what action - if any - the parish council could take.

After the meeting she said: "I don't know what we could do.

"The council felt Middleton Avenue was the best place. They just feel that X thousand number of people were happy with it and yet five people can come along and overrule them."

But Coun Mike Lynes said he wasn't sure that taking legal action was the answer. "What I think we want is the authority to answer to us why they are not taking notice of what's being said locally," he said.

"When those five objections were put before Ilkley (council), with most we were able to answer why they were wrong. But Bradford haven't clarified why the objections were valid.

Proposals have also been put to Bradford Council for abolishing charges at the Railway Road car park and creating spaces for coaches there.

But the parish council has received a petition from

residents objecting to that.

One of the petitioners - a resident of Trafalgar Road who did not wish to be named - said: "It would cause a big problem for the road. The people over at Middleton don't want it and neither do we. The road is very narrow and it couldn't do with any more congestion."

The petition will be

forwarded to Bradford Council, in advance of a decision on coach parking which will be taken after an overall review of transport issues in Ilkley - due to be completed by late summer 2001.