COUNCILLORS in Keighley were asked to consider working with a heritage railway attraction in Ingrow in future.

Keith Whitmore, chairman of the Bahamas Locomotive Society, addressed the latest full meeting of Keighley Town Council.

He said Ingrow Yard, where the society is based alongside the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, is currently underused.

"We'd like to put on more public events there," he added. "For example, we've been talking about having a food and drink festival. It could become a feature to bring more people into Keighley.

"And we would like to develop a close relationship with the town council. I think that's very important."

Mr Whitmore said Bradford district as a whole still has a lot of progress to make in terms of getting visitors to stay in the district for longer.

Explaining the work of his own attraction, he added: "Education is a key part of what we do. We have our own railway learning coach at Ingrow Station and have been working with Bradford schools.

"Since we opened the learning coach we've had 3,000 school children visit it.

"On Saturdays we have our science club which is very popular. It's provided free for Keighley kids and we have a waiting list of 70 kids for this club."

Town councillor Chris Herd responded: "The learning coach is a fantastic facility and is great for children and for our local area."

Cllr Kaneez Akthar, chairman of the town council's events and leisure committee, said: "As a council we do put on public events ourselves and we're always looking for new ideas.

"We'd be very keen to have a discussion to see if we can work together."