Bradford Council has confirmed that the site which used to be Ilkley’s Household Waste Recycling Centre on Golden Butts Road is to be sold.
A letter to Ilkley’s district Councillors, Cllr Andrew Loy and David Nunns, posted on their Facebook page said: “The asset has been approved for sale and our agents have been instructed to market this within the next few weeks. This will be by way of private treaty with Cushman and Wakefield”.
Cllrs Loy and Nunns have told Ilkley Chat: “We strongly objected to the sale, pointing out that Golden Butts was in public ownership long before Ilkley came under the governance of Bradford Council. We believe this important asset belongs to the town and should be retained for the benefit of Ilkley’s residents.
“Although it certainly wouldn’t have been anyone’s first preference, we believe Ilkley Town Council should now consider submitting a bid to buy the site and reinstate the recycling centre. Bradford Council may well reject any such offer, but we will never know if we don’t try.”
In the letter Bradford Council said it is "inviting offers from all interested parties, which includes Ilkley Town Council."
At September’s full Ilkley Town Council meeting, Councillors were told its Household Waste Recycling Centre Working Group was gathering information about a more complete proposal for a functional HWRC at the Golden Butts Road site. The meeting resolved the working group would be asked to ‘develop a draft proposal/bid for making an offer to purchase the site at Golden Butts Road.’ Any proposal will be presented to Full Council.