EFFORTS to end parking misery at Airedale Hospital have taken a major step forward with proposals for hundreds of new spaces.

Hospital bosses this week revealed they were finalising plans for a new car park creating between 350 and 400 spaces on the site of former nurses’ flats.

The spaces would be earmarked for staff, meaning existing staff spaces nearer the hospital buildings could be freed up for patients and visitors.

The hope is the increase will also discourage staff and visitors from parking on surrounding streets, particularly Thornhill Road, which has long annoyed Steeton residents.

News of the car park project was revealed by David Moss, managing director of AGH Solutions Ltd, which carries out estate management for Airedale NHS Foundation Trust.

He said: “We are in the final stages of design for an additional car park on the site of the former nurses’ accommodation and intend to make a planning application shortly.

“This will create additional staff parking so that we can continue our strategy of ensuring the car parking spaces closest to the hospital are reserved for patients and visitors.

“We have also regained over 100 spaces that were lost during the recent construction of our new acute assessment unit and pathology facility.”

The extra parking spaces are part of multi-pronged efforts by the Trust, Bradford Council and local politicians to improve traffic flow in nearby Skipton Road.

Hospital staff recently complained of having to wait in traffic queues for up to an hour while leaving the hospital grounds at peak times following busy shifts. Once in Skipton Road they face further queues either at Steeton Top or the Kildwick railway crossing.

The Trust this week said it was continuing to work with the council to explore the possibility of traffic lights at the entrance to Airedale Hospital.

Steeton-with-Eastburn Parish Council chairman David Mullen was this week sceptical that a new car park or traffic lights would reduce congestion.

He said: “Putting traffic lights at the hospital entrance is laughable. Vehicles are still going to come out of the hospital grounds into traffic. Lights will have any effect until they sort out the underlying problems.

“Something has to happen at Kildwick – the barrier at the crossing is down 50 minutes every hour for trains.”

Cllr Mullen said that unless the council introduced resident parking in surrounding streets, staff and visitors would still park there instead of paying for hospital parking. He added: “The new car park will be a big empty space.”

District councillor Adrian Naylor, whose Craven ward includes Steeton, said the Steeton Top traffic lights could not cope with the number of vehicles now using Skipton Road.

He said: “Putting hundreds of new parking spaces at the hospital will just increase the number of cars coming off the site, funnelling through one exit and straight into a traffic jam.

“Traffic lights at the hospital won’t help – it has to be part of a broader strategy for dealing with the number of vehicles using the level crossing at Kildwick.”