The first major steps are being taken to remove all-day parking from streets in the heart of Bradford city centre.

A new strategy adopted by Bradford Council aims to progressively introduce short-term street parking in an area roughly bounded by Hall Ings, Canal Road, Hamm Strasse and Godwin Street.

The plan is for motorists to pay premium rates for short stays in the central core of the city to regularly free-up spaces.

Cheaper or free short-term street parking will be available in the surrounding area with most long-term parking being outside the centre.

Members of the Council's Executive Committee will next week be asked to convert 150 long-stay spaces in the area of Manor Row, Roberts Street and Northbrook Street to short-stay parking which would be free for two hours. The committee will also be asked to introduce long-term parking charges for the first time in five streets on the outskirts of the city centre.

Officers have recommended that charges of £1.50 a day or 50p for two hours are introduced for 143 places in Snowden Street, Thornton Road, New Augustus Street, Filey Street and Edward Street. The 92 long-stay spaces in Sunbridge Road and Nelson Street are expected to remain free, however, after objections to the proposals.

The new charges are expected to bring in an extra £50,000.

Today business leaders argued that street parking should be free to help the city's regeneration. And shopkeepers said they were concerned about the effect on lunchtime trade by workers whose pockets were hit by the charges.

The Council would need to apply to John Prescott, Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, to become a special parking area.

The system has already started in the London boroughs.

Leeds has had a detailed study and Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield are considering it. But it would be necessary for all five West Yorkshire authorities to join in one scheme.

The Council has received 70 objections as well as two petitions to the new long-stay parking charges proposals. Objectors included the Chamber of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce.

Val Summerscales, secretary of Bradford Chamber of Trade, said its view had always been that city-centre parking should be free. "We have concerns about the effect of long-term parking charges for city centre for workers," she said. "They may find it difficult to pay the charges for a full working week and that can have a knock-on effect on trade, say for sandwiches and lunches."

John Pennington, pictured, president of Bradford Chamber of Commerce, said: "I don't think there should be any charges. I think parking in the city should be free to help its regeneration."

Jeff Frankel, chairman of Bradford Retail Group, said: "They have to be very careful if they take away free long-term parking unless they have previously thought about providing something safe for people who work in Bradford."

Executive member for the environment Councillor Anne Hawkesworth said: "Many people were opposed to parking charges on Sunbridge Road and Nelson Street, so we have decided to drop those. After conducting surveys, we have proposed it would be better to change the remainder of the long-stay on-street spaces to short-term near the shopping core."