CAMPAIGNERS pushing for Bingley to get its own town council have passed a major milestone by the skin of their teeth.

The idea of setting up the town council, which would also cover Cottingley, Crossflatts, Eldwick, Gilstead and Micklethwaite, divided opinion on a Council committee yesterday.

It was the casting vote of deputy chairman Councillor Andrew Thornton (Lab, Royds) which meant the idea can proceed to the next stage.

An initial petition calling for Bingley to get its own town council had been signed by more than 2,000 people, a meeting of the Council's Governance and Audit Committee heard.

But committee members were concerned that fewer than 800 people had responded to an official consultation into the idea.

Councillor Michelle Swallow (Lab, Clayton and Fairweather Green) said: "I'm just shocked that we are being asked to make a decision that will affect over 18,000 people having to pay more for their council tax bills - because they don't make that distinction. They think, 'I'm paying more to the council'.

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"I'm concerned we would be making that decision based on 770 people's responses, of which only 63 per cent of people were for."

Councillor Adrian Naylor (Ind, Craven) said while he was supportive of the idea, he was worried that the proposed town council would cover too wide an area.

He said: "In terms of the size of this, to go from nothing to the second largest parish council in the district is a very big step.

"From that point of view, I don't want to set anything up to fail."

Councillor Margaret Eaton (Con, Bingley Rural) expressed similar concerns.

Baroness Eaton said: "You may find huge conflicts to resolve within that boundary."

Ros Dawson, chairman of the Bingley Community Council Group, which is pushing for the new town council, said they had managed to get the required 10 per cent of the electorate to sign their petition in around two and a half months.

She said they could have gone further and collected more signatures.

"People wanted to sign," she said.

Mrs Dawson said local people who disagreed with the idea tended to be concerned about paying a precept or having another layer of bureaucracy, not the suggested area it would cover.

Mrs Dawson also said they had undertaken a lot of work explaining to people what a town council involved.

She said: "We carried out six public meetings in different locations. We produced a website. We produced a lot of literature. We made all these available to people."

The proposal to set up a town council for Bingley will now have to be approved by Full Council.