Business forum asks about A-board problem in Ilkley

Last month, the T&A featured Sally Chawner-Baxter, who described A-boards as one of the many obstacles facing mobility scooter users in Ilkley.

Now the Ilkley Business Forum (IBF) will ask its members for their opinions on the boards and is hoping to set up meetings with Bradford Council and the parish council to discuss their use.

Forum member Steve Butler, also a parish councillor, is conducting the survey and warned many retailers are currently breaking official district council policy on the use of A-boards.

Although he says enforcement is sporadic, he wants to know if retailers and traders, who have traditionally supported the use of A-boards, have changed their views.

“For some time now I have been promising to arrange a meeting between IBF members and interested parties to discuss the issue of the use of A-boards in Ilkley,” he wrote to members of IBF.

“In the past there have been various comments about how bad A-boards can be. The response of the retailer members in the IBF has always been to support their use wholeheartedly, hence my promise to arrange a meeting so that the views of retailers could be explained to those who dislike A-boards.

“The IBF now has a much larger number of members, especially, but not exclusively, retailers who make heavy use of A-boards. I feel therefore that the IBF can safely claim to represent the views of such firms in LS29.”

Mr Butler revealed he is trying to set up meetings between traders and Ilkley Civic Society, Bradford Council and Ilkley Parish Council to discuss the problems with A-boards.

He said under district council rules “many current users of A-boards would simply not be able to do so because our pavements are generally too narrow”. He added that complaints had mostly been about A-boards along The Grove.

In March 2011, Bradford Council introduced a new code of practice for A-boards and promised to take action against any businesses flouting the regulations.