YOU wait years for extra parking at a busy railway station, then two schemes come along at once.

That’s the situation faced by rail passengers in Shipley, where not one but two extensions to the existing parking are now proposed.

As reported earlier this week, Skipton Properties has resubmitted plans for a new 75-space car park to the east of the train station, accessed from Crag Road.

The developer has had to lodge updated plans for the car park, as well as 85 new homes, after Morrisons pulled out of building a new supermarket as part of a wider scheme called Shipley Exchange.

Meanwhile, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has now unveiled separate proposals to increase the capacity of the existing car park, in Station Road, by an extra 84 spaces.

The £2.55m scheme would most likely see a deck built on the existing car park, effectively giving an extra storey of parking space.

Bradford Council’s leader, Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, leads the WYCA investment committee which agreed to fund the scheme last week and granted officers delegated powers to take it forward.

Cllr Hinchcliffe (Lab), whose Windhill and Wrose ward covers the station area, said the existing car park was "very well used and often full from early in the morning".

She said the two car parking extension schemes would complement each other.

“The two are not mutually exclusive,” she said.

Shipley’s Conservative MP, Philip Davies, said it was a busy station and extra parking was needed.

He said: “I welcome as much extra parking capacity as can be squeezed in, that’s good news.

“I just hope they are complementary and they don’t overlap and money isn’t wasted.”

Councillor Martin Love (Green, Shipley), whose ward borders the area, agreed more parking was needed.

He said: “The car park fills up. If you are not there by 7.30am, or probably earlier than that, you simply don’t get in.”

But he said that given the Morrisons plan had been scrapped, there might be a better way forward.

He said: “The idea of putting a deck in does seem expensive, given the fact there is some land available at the side of the station now because Morrisons aren’t progressing with the scheme. They [WYCA] could do something cheaper and less obtrusive by providing extra parking on the land.”

A spokesman for Skipton Properties said: "Car parking has been considered as a whole.

"The proposed station car park within the Crag Road scheme is being prepared with input from Network Rail, Northern Rail and Metro to benefit station and rail users in general, and if delivered will ultimately be managed by Network Rail and the station operator.  

"As such it is understood that both new parking facilities will ideally be delivered and would work within the context of a comprehensive parking strategy for the station users as a whole."

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