A STATUE of Bradford politician Richard Oastler will remain in place as part of a major new scheme to improve Bradford's "top of town" area.

Last year Bradford Council revealed that it planned to use almost £1m in funding from the National Lottery and EU to drastically alter the area of the city centre that includes Oastler Square and North Parade.

Two different options were drawn up, with the public asked to have their say on which they preferred.

One option would have seen the Grade II listed statue of Richard Oastler - famed for his efforts to reduce child labour moved from its current location in Oastler Square to the junction of Rawson Square and Darley Street.

In both sets of plans, the square would be turned into a "pocket park" with new planters, trees and benches, and there would also be new greenery on North Parade and at the top of Darley Street.

Now the Council has revealed that after public feedback, the statue will remain in Oastler Square, the centrepiece of the new park.

But the feedback from the public has once again highlighted the split in opinion over the future of North Parade, with calls to pedestrianise the street clashing with calls from several local businesses to keep it open to traffic.

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The Council has admitted many people have been "frustrated" at the decision to keep North Parade open to traffic.

Referring to the public feedback, the Council said: "Most feedback said that relocating the statue of Richard Oastler back to Rawson Square (where it had been located from the 1920s to the 1960s) did not offer sufficient additional benefit, when compared with the option to retain the statue in its current location.

"The designs for a new green space surrounding the historic statue were well received."

"The split of opinion identified in early phases of community engagement between those respondents favouring retaining local parking, and those who favour a significant reduction of provision, or even the pedestrianisation of North Parade, remains. Some concerns expressed again were over how businesses would be able to trade if on-street parking and space for deliveries was affected, but others were frustrated that the designs had not done enough to remove vehicular activity from North Parade.

"Pragmatic design changes have been proposed that maintain on-street parking and loading bays in key locations at the top end of North Parade, but the principle of increasing the amount of pavement area to create a more visitor/customer friendly environment has been retained in the project."

The Council plans to install automatic bollards on North Parade to allow the road to be closed off for public events or festivals.

A recent report by the Council into city centre regeneration schemes revealed the work would likely start in June, after any Jubilee celebrations, and be completed by December.