A RECOMMENDATION to cease trading in all but the police museum at Keighley's Civic Centre was defeated by a small margin last night. (January 21)

The proposal had been put forward by Keighley town councillors Amjid Ahmed and Javaid Akhtar who warned that the town council did not have enough money to cover the centre's running costs.

Speaking at last night's Keighley Town Council monthly meeting, they called for a halt to trading at the civic centre cafe, shop and bar, though agreed to an amendment to omit the police museum from their recommendation.

Supporting the proposal, Coun Gary Pedley called on the committee in charge of managing the civic centre to resign. He said: "The budget for the civic centre saw a £20,000 overspend last year, and our Responsible Financial Officer (RFO) has projected that there's going to be a £20,000 overspend this year.

"Who has given approval to overspend by £20,000? This is a breach of financial regulations."

But civic centre committee chairman Coun Peter Corkindale disputed the RFO's figures. "If you look at all the income streams of the civic centre we're actually £721 in the black," he said.

He acknowledged that a lack of income from one element of the civic centre – the cafe – was a problem and suggested that this facility alone could be closed.

In a named vote the council agreed to continue trading at the cafe, shop and bar. The recommendation put forward by councillors Ahmed and Akhtar was defeated by 13 votes to 10 with one abstention.

*See next week's Keighley News for full story