Pay and display car parking could be introduced in historic Saltaire in a bid to free up dozens of parking spaces for tourists and shoppers.

Plans to turn the village's two main public car parks into short-stay pay and display facilities are being drawn up in response to complaints about commuters and people working in Saltaire leaving their cars all day.

The proposals, aimed at preventing all-day stays in the Caroline Street and Exhibition Road car parks, are to be considered by members of Bradford Council's highways sub-committee this month.

Councillor Phil Thornton (Labour, Shipley East), who chairs the multi-agency Saltaire Project Team and the Council's highways sub-committee, said: "There is a big problem with long-term parking - people working in the village or going off by train to Leeds or Bradford are parking up all day on someone else's doorstep and blocking the car parks up for visitors.

"At the end of the day there will be a charging policy. The aim is to bring these sites into line with the Council's other short-stay pay and display car parks which should deter long-stay parking and benefit the community."

Tourism chiefs say the move would be a godsend to tourists and shoppers who often experience difficulties in finding places to park in Saltaire.

Anne Heald, manager of Saltaire Tourist Information Centre, said: "The train's so well used now but a lot of people are parking in Saltaire which means these car parks are often full from 8am to 6pm.

"Visitors are always asking us where they can park and often drive off when they can't find any spaces. Hopefully this would deter people from parking there all day.''

Saltaire Village Society chairman Clive Woods, who runs Falcon Books in Victoria Road, said: "With people parking up in those car parks all day and permit parking in the residential areas visitors and shoppers often can't get any off-street parking so it will be useful to have these spaces available.''

l Plans to install new signs to direct lorries away from Victoria Road and provide dedicated parking spaces for coaches visiting the model mill village are due to be implemented during the current financial year.

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