A NEW £1.5 million sheltered housing complex in Ilkley could be built by the end of next year now that planners have given the green light to the project.

Since it was first revealed by the Gazette in August, the project to replace Station Garage on Springs Lane with the complex, has been bogged down by concerns about parking and traffic in the area.

Councillors had earlier deferred a decision on the plan to build the complex on the site of the Rhydding Motor Company, Station Garage, Springs Lane, for discussions on car parking and the materials used in the new building's construction.

But the latest assurances from representatives of the developers saw the scheme approved by the Keighley area planning sub-committee.

Members viewed a sample of the materials which would be used in the four-story complex and heard assurances that car parking would be adequate.

Sub-committee chairman, Councillor John Cope (Lab, Worth Valley), said: "There was some concern whether the materials would be appropriate to Ilkley but they produced a panel and we accepted that, and we accepted the applicant's point about cars and parking."

The flats complex will contain 27 one-bedroom flats and 23 two-bedroom flats for people over 60 only.

Station Garage owner Tim Webster said he was very pleased that the plan had been approved and said he would be meeting with the Cheshire-based specialist developers, McCarthy and Stone, to work out a timetable for demolition of the garage and construction of the new flats to begin.

"It was important to get it sorted. Commonsense has prevailed and we can now get on with going forward again," said Mr Webster.

He added: "I have not met anybody who has said it won't be an improvement. The garage was looking old and tired and needed to have a lot of money spent on it to make it nice."

Mr Webster, boss of Rhydding Motor Company, has two other dealerships in Colne and Harrogate and said he would like to set up a garage at another site in his home town of Ilkley but needed to entice a franchise from a major motor company.

A spokesman for the developer said that research had shown a need for tailor-made accommodation for the over 60s in Ilkley.

Parish councillors had objected to the plan but Ilkley Civic Society supported it as an attractive addition to the townscape.

The proximity of Ilkley's Coronation Hospital, Health Centre, Tesco Supermarket, library and Town Hall, with other services such as the Post Office not far away, could make the flats an attractive proposition for retired people.

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