THE village of Addingham could become a super parish emptying its own bins, repairing the roads and cleaning its own streets, according to Bradford Council.

Parish and district councillors will be asked whether they want to take over major services from the local authority.

Grounds maintenance, highways, youth service, refuse collection, street cleaning, libra-ries and community facilities have all been identified as possible services to be managed by parish councillors.

But parish council chairman Gordon Campbell has questioned whether the local body should or would be willing to take over so many of the local authority's responsibilities.

Parish councillors have been taking part in discussions with City Hall over the setting of a village precept - a local rate which will be added to the Council Tax.

The precept, which was introduced in Ilkley last year, will allow the parish council to administer its own budget for local services.

Coun Campbell said that setting a precept would not automatically lead to the huge financial commitment invol-ved in providing major services in the village.

"The idea of the precept was to enhance existing services and provide new services rather than compete for existing services," said Coun Campbell.

He said that the only way Bradford could hand over major services was to work out the cost for each area and hand that money over to the parish council to sub-contract.

"But as a small body, the deal the parish council could get for sub-contracted services would be much worse than that negotiated by a massive organisation like Bradford Council.

"As a little parish council we would get a fairly poor deal," said Coun Campbell.

Bradford Council's executive meeting on January 21 will be asked to give the go-ahead for a six-month consultation with area committees, parish and town councils, and other relevant groups about taking over more services.

But Coun Campbell warned that Bradford Council might be jumping the gun. He said: "This is a stage on from precepting that we haven't got to grips with yet."

Councillor Simon Cooke (Bingley Rural - Con) Bradford's corporate and regeneration boss, said: "If the proposals go-ahead they will give people a greater involvement in what goes on in their areas but with the continued support of the council to area committees.

"If the services were devolved, a number of issues would have to be looked into including budgeting arrangements, the powers given to area committees and the boundaries of decision making and service areas."

The findings of the six-month consultation will be published in a report due out in September this year.