Bradford-Shipley Travel Alliance has advised its affiliated organisations and individuals to respond to WYCA’s questionnaire consultation on road schemes between Bradford and Shipley. The guidance is reproduced below. You may also write comments and concerns unconstrained by the questionnaire in an email to yourvoice@westyorks-ca.gov.uk or by mail to Freepost, CONSULTATION TEAM WYCA, Wellington House, 40-50 Wellington Street, Leeds, LS1 2DE.
Bradford-Shipley Road Improvement Scheme – Questionnaire consultation
We are asking you to complete the consultation questionnaire [bsta.us7.list-manage.com] issued by West Yorkshire Combined Authority about proposed changes to the road system between Bradford and Shipley.
Bradford-Shipley Travel Alliance was launched in 2021 to represent the concern from residents about road proposals. In particular, the dangerous health and climate impacts of increasing traffic across Manningham and Frizinghall and adding to the bottleneck of Shipley. The proposal then was for dual carriageway all along Canal Road, Valley Road and Otley Road.
Your concerns were influential. The Council decided to go back to the drawing board and take into account policies on improving air quality and encouraging a shift away from the motor car. The new proposal is better, but leaves many unanswered questions:
Will a benefit be reduced motor traffic overall? Why is heavy goods traffic travelling through Bradford to the northwest not diverted to the motorway system? Which road stop-ups and one-way systems make for safer communities or simply make the main roads faster? Will the improved stretches of cycling and walking be joined up? How will the Carlisle/Marlborough/Lumb Lane road stretches cope with the diverted extra traffic? Where are the numbers to justify the claims made for the proposals?
If residents’ health and tackling carbon emissions are your priorities, we ask you to respond to the consultation questionnaire and raise these points. Only then will Councillors hear your concerns and ensure that the scheme is further improved.
With this in mind, the rest of this document gives guidance on the questionnaire, you may of course have differing views on some elements, but we hope this will help you make response you are happy with.
When completing the questionnaire, think about your own experience and try to use your own words.
Guidance on the Bradford-Shipley roads consultation questionnaire
Take the survey here: https://www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/bradfordshipley [bsta.us7.list-manage.com]
Qs 1-4 Introduction
BSTA Guidance: Complete according to your usage of any of the roads between Bradford and Shipley.
Side Road Proposals
Q5. Do you live, visit or travel along any of the roads we are proposing to stop up or make one-way? Please tick all that apply
BSTA Guidance: These are the side roads that will be blocked or made one-way. Choose all of the roads you use, even if only occasionally. The questionnaire will then ask you about each of them. The map that shows the proposed changes is here [bsta.us7.list-manage.com] (do not be put off by the title that is mistakenly about Huddersfield canals!).
[Note: the question numbers from here will differ, depending on how many side roads you ticked in Q5]
Q6 For each road you have said you use; you will then be asked to ‘Support’ or ‘Oppose’ the change.
BSTA guidance: Below, for Comments section that comes at the end of the questions about each road, we have given reasons to support these changes to side roads. However, in some cases the change may cause greater flow on the main road and may have a specific local effect without other benefits. You know the area and should answer accordingly.
Q7 Do you have any comments you’d like to tell us about the plans for these side roads?
BSTA Guidance: Stopping-up some side roads on this route should help make walking safer and more appealing by creating longer stretches of continuous pavement with a reduced number of junctions for pedestrians to cross. Those travelling by foot will no longer need to cross multiple side roads when walking, for example, their children to school.
Closed side roads so that they no longer have two-way traffic on them (effectively becoming cul-de-sacs) should make it safer for residents to move around on their streets and provide safer areas for children to walk and play.
Closing some side roads should also help with cycle safety once the new cycleways are in place. Fewer junctions will mean a longer continuous cycleway with fewer opportunities for negative cycle/motor vehicle interactions when motorists drive in and out of a side road. This should greatly improve cycle safety.
Q8. In general, how much do you support the principle of one-way / stopped up side roads off Manningham Lane / Bradford Road?
BSTA Guidance: Support
Q9 We wish to make Manningham Lane a bit less car dominated and improve the reliability of buses. But making sure you can still visit businesses along the route easily.
This means you would no longer be able to travel north from Spring Bank Place to Queens Road in a private vehicle. You would still be able to access businesses along Manningham Lane.
Do you support or oppose adding a Bus Gate on Manningham Lane?
BSTA Guidance: Support
Q10. We are planning reduce congestion along Queens Road to Manningham Lane, improve air quality and road safety.
To do this, we wish to implement a no right turn restriction, so you wouldn’t be able to turn right from Queens Road onto Manningham Lane.
How much do you support or oppose this no right turn proposal?
BSTA Guidance: Support
Q11. In the previous consultation, you told us you were concerned about air quality.
Do you feel our proposals would improve air quality in this area?
BSTA Guidance: Yes
Q12. The A6037 Canal Road and the A6038 Otley Road are strategic roads for people travelling across the district.
How much do you support the following proposals to improve and/ or widen these roads and junctions?
Add a new lane northbound on Canal Road between Queens Road and Stanley Road in the existing highway
BSTA Guidance: Strongly oppose
Improved access to Frizinghall Rail Station from Canal Road
BSTA Guidance: Strongly Support
Widen Otley Road / Valley Road Junction to improve congestion
BSTA Guidance: Oppose
Widen Otley Road / Keighley Road Junction to improve congestion
BSTA Guidance: Oppose
Section Four
More general proposals
We also wish to make improvements more generally.
The following proposals don’t have a specific place in mind right now.
But we’d like to know if you’d support the following ideas in principle:
Q13. Additional length / upgraded segregated cycleway
BSTA Guidance: Strongly Support
Q14. Cycling crossing improvements
BSTA Guidance: Strongly Support
Q15. Pedestrian crossing improvements
BSTA Guidance: Strongly Support
Q16. Make the area a safer, more attractive place to walk and cycle
BSTA Guidance: Strongly Support
Q17. Planting / landscaping improvements
BSTA Guidance: Strongly Support
Q18. More bus lanes to improve bus journey times and reliability
BSTA Guidance: Strongly Support
Q19. Bus lanes operating longer to improve bus journey times and reliability earlier and later
BSTA Guidance: Strongly Support
Q20. Improved bus stop locations
BSTA Guidance: Strongly Support
Q21. Enforcement against unlawful parking – to improve journey times, and improve road safety, walking and cycling
BSTA Guidance: Strongly Support
Q22. If you wish to tell us why you do, or do not, like these general ideas for improvements, you can use the box below:
BSTA Guidance:
There is much to support within the above listed general improvements.
Additional protected cycle lanes will make it easier and safer for people to cycle in the area. Encouraging more people to cycle in their community and replace car journeys with cycle journeys is good for health and good for reducing congestion, local air pollution and carbon emissions.
Improvements to pedestrian crossings will make it easier and safer for residents to walk in their community, for example to the shops or take their children to school on foot. Improvements to pedestrian crossings must however give adequate priority to pedestrians and cyclists, for example making the pedestrian/cycle phase as long as possible and consideration needs to be given to giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists rather than motorists.
Measures that make the area safer and more attractive to walk and cycle will encourage people to travel by foot or on bike in their community instead of by car. Again, this is good for health and good for reducing congestion, local air pollution and carbon emissions. This will also be positive for local businesses as residents are more likely to walk or cycle to the shops and spend more time in an area that has been made safer and more attractive for active travel (walking, wheeling and cycling). The same is the case for improving an area through planting and landscaping – this will again encourage people to spend time in the local area which is good for the community and good for local businesses.
Bus lanes that operate longer will help make bus travel quicker and more reliable. This will encourage more people to use the bus instead of their car and will reduce congestion, local air pollution and carbon emissions.
Well maintained, attractive bus stops located in user-friendly locations will help further encourage bus use.
Parking enforcement against unlawful parking is welcome. Unlawful parking can involve drivers parking on pavements, in bus lanes and on cycle paths. This makes walking more unpleasant, makes cycling more dangerous and slows buses down. Enforcement against unlawful parking will reduce these problems and encourage the uptake of walking and cycling as well as making these modes of travel safer.
Section Five
Your thoughts on the full scheme
Q23. Overall, how much do you support or oppose these proposals?
BSTA Guidance: Support
Q24. And finally, if there is anything else you’d like to tell us about these proposals, you can use the box below:
BSTA Guidance: The overall aims of the revised scheme are largely positive. The focus on bus and active travel is to be welcomed, as is the plan to make Manningham Lane/Keighley Road/Bradford Road into a reduced traffic, quieter neighbourhood area.
The decision to no longer widen long stretches of Canal Road and Valley Road is a very welcome change from the previous plan. There is however a concern that plans to create an extra lane on a stretch of Canal Road may induce additional traffic to use this road by creating additional vehicle capacity. This may lead to an increase in traffic that will negate some of the positive impacts of the scheme by causing additional air pollution and carbon emissions.
The continued commitment to naturalising Bradford Beck is welcome.
Redirecting traffic from Manningham Lane onto Westgate/Carlisle/Rd/Marlborough Rd may have the effect of adding to congestion on these already busy roads. As these are largely residential areas this is a cause for concern.
Widening of junctions at Otley Rd/Valley Road and Keighley Rd/Otley Road risks inducing more motor vehicle traffic to use these junctions if the roads are widened to increase vehicle carrying capacity. This may increase congestion beyond the junctions and may worsen local air pollution and increase carbon emissions. However, if the junctions are widened to accommodate wider pavements and protected cycleways instead of additional vehicle carrying capacity this would be an improvement. Signalling upgrades that prioritised walking and cycling would also be welcomed.
The Otley Road/Valley Road junction is right next to Shipley CE Primary school. Any increase in road traffic here will result in increased air pollution which will have a negative effect on the developing lungs of children who attend this school. This would be a significant concern. There are a number of mature trees at the Otley Rd/Valley Road junction. It is not clear from the plans if these would need to be cut down to widen this junction. If so, this would be a cause for concern.
It is not clear how the walking proposals deliver a coherent network.
The cycleway extension to Frizinghall rail station along Stanley Road / Gaisby Lane is welcome, however there isn’t a corresponding protected cycleway running from Keighley Road down Frizinghall Road to the rail station to create a proper network.
It is noted that the project ends at Otley Rd junction at the Shipley end of the route rather than going on to Saltaire. It would make much more sense and would have much greater impact if the scheme continued to the Saltaire/Bingley Road shops so that there was a fully connected protected cycleway with improved footway joining the urban centres of Bradford and Saltaire. An active travel connection to Shipley centre is also missing. Improved footways and protected cycleways into Shipley town centre down Otley Rd from Bradford Road towards Shipley town centre would connect the local residential areas off Bradford/Bingley/Keighley Road with the centre of Shipley. This would encourage cycle commuting for shopping/work/leisure as well as enhancing the walking experience between Shipley and nearby residential areas.
A HGV weight ban is not included in the proposals. A weight ban that resulted in the redirection of HGVs onto the motorway network would have significant benefits in reducing the high numbers of HGVs that use the Bradford-Shipley route.
Kind regards The Bradford-Shipley Travel Alliance team
