A long mooted change of ownership could become a reality for one of Ilkley's most famous landmarks.

The transferring of White Wells spa cottage from Bradford Council management to that of a new Ilkley-based Trust was discussed at last week's meeting of the Ilkley Tourism and Town Management Committee.

Bradford's Environment chief and Ilkley parish and district councillor Anne Hawkesworth confirmed that the authority was looking into a 'more constructive' way of managing the Ilkley Moor property.

Coun Hawkesworth added that the way forward would be to have a group of local people who had an interest in White Wells looking after it as a trust. Bradford would then step back from the picture which would allow the new body to attract other sources of funding.

Parish council chairman Mike Gibbons said the move was one he would back, in principle.

He said: "We have agreed that we want to investigate the option of setting up a trust to maintain and improve White Wells, and that we as a parish council would take a keen interest in that .

"We would hope that other interested local people would also come along and be involved with it.

"If it were handed over to us it would hopefully come with a grant at least equivalent to what is being spent on it at the moment for minor maintenance works.

"It is recognised that quite a lot of input will be needed to upgrade certain areas - to repair the toilets, for example."

Currently, the building is the responsibility of Bradford's Countryside Service and Cleansing department, which looks after its toilets.