CALLS to put the brakes on boy racers on a town centre rat run are being led by one of the town’s biggest charities.

KIVCA has launched a petition for traffic calming on Alice Street, in Keighley, outside its well-used Central Hall community centre.

Central Hall manager Julie Lintern said the campaign was being supported by neighbouring businesses.

Those backing the calls include Shan’s supermarket, the bingo hall, takeaways and taxi firms.

She said customers of all the businesses had been put at risk by young men in powerful and noisy cars shooting along the street in a dangerous manner.

And she said Central Hall users, particularly dementia sufferers and parents with young children, regularly risked death by crossing the road.

KIVCA – Keighley and Ilkley Voluntary and Community Action – is also campaigning to deter illegal parking on Alice Street.

With that aim in mind, it wants to see the former North Street college site opened up as a car park to ease the scramble for parking places in the area.

Julie said: “Central Hall is being used more and more frequently for kids’ parties.

“I’m terrified that someone will step out into the road and get run over.

“Drivers set off at the top of Alice Street and bomb to the bottom, with those powerful turbo-charged engines.

“People park on double lines, and on pavements.

“This causes not only problems to those navigating the street by cars but poses a potential to those on foot.”

Cllr Abid Hussain, who represents Keighley Central ward on Bradford Council, said he would support traffic calming in Alice Street.

He said: “It’s quite a serious problem.

“That road is a rat run, with people cutting down to avoid the North Street traffic lights and driving towards Bradford Street.”

But fellow ward councillor Khadim Hussain, while agreeing to look into the matter, was sceptical about speeding problems because Alice Street suffered frequent congestion and logjams due to parked cars.

He said it was likely that strong evidence of the need for new measures would be needed before action was taken in the current financial climate.

He said: “Unless there are statistics that say there is a dire need for traffic calming, in the current climate of budget cuts it’s difficult.

“We are struggling to finance all the schemes.

“These nutters don’t give a damn about traffic calming anyway – I’ve seen them driving on the traffic calming.

“They’re not always their own cars, they sometimes stolen.”

Cllr Khadim Hussain was not against the college site being used for parking until construction began on the planned multi-use public services building, but said that in the long-term there was enough parking provision at the nearby Scott Street and Airedale centre car parks.

People can sign the traffic calming petition at the Central Hall reception or by emailing julie@kivca.org.uk.

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