THE growing clamour for Keighley’s newly-created green space to be retained has taken a significant step forward.

Keighley Rotary Club is spearheading an organised effort to transform the area – where the college once stood – into a park with lawns, flowerbeds, benches and even a fountain.

Certainly, increasing numbers of people are enjoying the novelty of having a large grassed plot in the town centre and being able to savour previously-obscured views across to the hills on Keighley’s northern edge.

But something of a spanner has been dipped, if not fully thrown, into the works with the revelation that a new police station may form part of plans for the site. And meanwhile Bradford Council has reiterated it is adamant that a ‘public sector hub’ will be built there.

It says the scheme is essential to help ensure the town centre thrives.

Some, of course, would claim that having a green ‘oasis’ will do as much for the town as the construction of a hub. One thing is certain. This is an issue that is going to run. There are two very differing sides to the argument and at the moment little prospect of concurrence.