KEIGHLEY town councillors have ring-fenced £4,500 to unlock possible extra funding to extend a project to replace asphalt town centre pavements with flagstones.

Councillor Michael Westerman, chairman of the council’s watch and transport committee, said if the additional funding is available, it would mean the paving can go all the way up to North Street’s junction with Albert Street.

The paving, which is being installed as part of the lottery and Bradford Council-funded £2.7 million Townscape Heritage Initiative, is currently only guaranteed up to where North Street meets Spencer Street.

However, Cllr Westerman said he would like to see the flagstones run all the way along the frontage of Keighley Library.

He said he disagreed with the option of only extending the paving as far as the pedestrian crossing outside the southern end of the library.

The matter was discussed at Monday evening’s meeting of the watch and transport committee.

The gathering was attended by Bradford Council officer, Robin Copeland, who explained what could be done to maximise the impact of the town centre improvements.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Westerman said it would be a shame if the flagstones do not reach as far as the library.

“It’s very important because when you look at the buildings in North Street, the library would probably be the oldest, as well as being the first Carnegie Library in the world,” he said.

“You don’t want to see a beautiful piece of architecture like that with shabby asphalt outside it. People want to see it in its full glory, including a stone flag pavement outside instead of asphalt.

“The flagstones they are putting in further down the street look very good, and supposedly it’s an anti-slip surface as well.

“We’ve agreed in principle to ring-fence £4,500, which we’d contribute in the event Bradford Council can get enough public money from elsewhere to reach the junction with Albert Street.

“But we’ll only provide the funding on that condition. We don’t want to be throwing money away unnecessarily, and we’ve got to be seen to be looking after the public purse.

“Everyone on the watch and transport committee is looking for value for money, which is what we should be doing as councillors.”

Keighley Townscape Heritage Initiative officer, Sue Oakley, said: “We won’t know if we’ll have the budget to take the flagstones all the way to Albert Street until we’ve reached Spencer Street.

“We have to see what we’ve spent before we know how much we’ve got left.

“I’m very happy with how the work is going, and we’re getting a lot of good comments about it.”

lWhat do you think? We welcome letters on this or any other subject. E-mail richard.parker@keighleynews.co.uk or write to The Editor, Keighley News, 80-86 North Street, Keighley, West Yorkshire BD21 3AG. Please include your name, address and daytime telephone number.