CUTS to rail services on the Airedale line are "the last thing we need" as Keighley strives to recover post-pandemic, says a town business boss.

Simon Blondel, chair of Keighley Business Improvement District (BID), was speaking as he backed calls for planned service reductions to be reversed.

Operator Northern sparked anger last month when it announced that the number of trains running in and out of Bradford Forster Square would be reduced, from May 15.

Services between Bradford and Skipton are changing from half-hourly to hourly.

Northern says the move is due to a lack of customer demand and prioritisation of busier routes.

But Mr Blondel has joined with the leaders of Bradford and Ilkley BIDs to voice their concerns in a letter to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

"Cutting rail services to and from Keighley is the last thing we need when we're all working so hard to get things going again after the last two years," says Mr Blondel.

"Many people use these services to travel and commute between Keighley, Bradford and all the places in between. Making that harder is just going to slow down the recovery and these services need to be restored as soon as possible."

In the letter, Bradford BID chair Ian Ward says that whilst he understands the cuts are described as 'temporary', they couldn't be more ill-timed.

He adds: "City and town centre businesses have suffered greatly from the restrictions necessarily imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and, with current inflation levels and the soaring costs of energy, many are again struggling to survive.

"Bradford has fared better than many, given its lower-than-average reliance on office-based employment in the city centre, but the impact of working from home has still drastically affected the livelihoods of many retailers and hospitality providers and soaring energy prices are placing substantial pressures on those already operating on the tightest of margins.

"In the face of these challenges, Northern Rail’s response appears to be to make it harder than ever for customers to travel to and from our retail and hospitality centres."

Helen Rhodes, manager of Ilkley BID, says: "We support the aim to try to reverse the reduction in these crucial rail services.

"At a time when retail and hospitality businesses need all the help they can get, cutting visitor numbers and potentially making the recruitment and retention of staff more difficult are both real concerns."