Bingley's premier crusading group may fold if it is not better supported, its chairman has warned.

Philip Smith, who heads the Better Bingley Campaign, is to send a mini-questionnaire out to members asking for their opinions prior to its next meeting in October.

He said that it was essential to find out if there was a genuine desire to continue with the campaigning group, set up in 1991 to fight for improvements in the town and for the relief road.

And it is not the first time the group - an umbrella organisation for other groups in the town like schools, the British Legion, Bingley Labour Party and Soroptomists - has nearly folded. In 1995 a make-or-break meeting was held after the chairman, vice-chairman and secretary stood down.

Since then there has also been the formation of the powerful Bingley Town Centre Partnership of which Mr Smith is a member but which may have had an adverse effect on his own group.

He said: "One of the most important things, irrespective of who chairs it, is does it have a future and is there sufficient interest to carry it on?

"At the moment there are too many groups in Bingley, some of which are struggling and we are not alone.

"If the response to the questionnaire is apathetic, that will decide its future.''

He said the timing of the announcement was probably due to a combination of factors. "There's a lack of interest in local groups like this and it's also a sign of the times," he added.

"People are too busy watching videos and getting on with their own lives and make the assumption that someone else will do it.

"We have never managed to elect a vice-chairman and although I am very committed to Bingley - I have put a lot of work into it over the past seven years - it would be nice to sit back on the sidelines for a change."

At the last meeting a seminar was given on the possibility of Bingley being granted its own parish council and this could presage its own demise.

Jim Westwood, secretary of Bingley Civic Trust, said: "I would be sorry to see it in trouble. Under Philip Smith it has done a very good job indeed and I thought they were doing all right.''

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