Ilkley should not be allowed to choke on its own rubbish while Bradford Council looks for a larger waste site, claims a district councillor.

Coun Anne Hawkesworth (Con, Ilkley) is furious that residents disposing of household waste at the Golden Butts Road site have been faced with full and overflowing skips.

She has contacted Alan Baff, Bradford's city cleansing and transport officer who has revealed the council is looking for a larger site in the Ilkley area.

Coun Hawkesworth believes the situation could have been avoided had the council not restricted the potential for expanding the site.

She said: "I must be excused for saying 'I told you so' to the cleansing officers. Residents will recall the amount of council space which was available down Golden Butts Road up to five years ago."

"We have repeatedly said that Bradford has used Ilkley as a 'pot of gold' to be plundered. No allowance had been made for the town's future needs," she said.

Alan Baff, in a letter to Coun Hawkesworth, said: "The main reason for the problems being experienced is that the overall demand for use made of this site has now outgrown the available space.

"In short, this site is now inadequate in terms of refuse storage, ease of access for users, traffic management for both public cars and our skips vehicles, recycling facilities (particularly green waste) and visual amenity for the residents of Ilkley."

Mr Baff said a request had been made to the council's property services department to see if an alternative, larger site could be made available for household waste, along similar lines to the Ellar Ghyll tip near Otley.

Coun Hawkesworth said: "We are told that the current well used site is not adequate. To transfer the waste site to any alternative within Ilkley is well nigh impossible. I can't readily think of anywhere suitable."

Coun Hawkesworth fears what 'suggested' sites may lead to.

"Where does the council suggest? An intrusion into the green belt? Or indeed a disused schools site?" she asked.

"If these suggestions were not appalling, they would be laughable. Bradford Council can only be blamed for the situation," she added.

Coun Hawkesworth said the problems could be eased if the waste was taken away at more frequent intervals.

Mr Baff said residents had experienced the problem of full skips.

He said: "This is certainly partly due to summertime peaks in DIY waste and green waste which puts a strain on the available waste storage capacity at this site, and our transport resources to service the skips."

However Mr Baff said: "There have been no changes whatsoever to the layout of the site, or the number of skips retained within it."

Coun Hawkesworth said: "It is simply the case that there has been no forward thinking about this situation at all."

She said she believed even more pressure would be put on the site if refuse bosses decide to introduce wheelie bins in Ilkley.

"Some people would prefer the option of taking their own plastic rubbish sacks to the tip rather than leaving the wheelie bin out all day," said Coun Hawkesworth.

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