Category: News
Latest updates from BSTA.
Shipley choked on traffic event: your day out
Enjoy free community stalls, craft activities with Sponge Tree, refreshments, and tell us what you think of our ideas for less traffic, beating pollution, and a Shipley that’s easy to get to and easy to get around. Families welcome. All the action takes place at Shipley Kirkgate Centre, Saturday 5th March, 10am-4pm.
Come any time during the day, or register now for these timed sessions:
10.15: Plans for bigger roads, and alternatives
11.00: Traffic, climate, health: Bradford Council’s vision
12.00: Clarifying the Clean Air Zone
12.00: What makes a successful local transport campaign?
13.00: How does air pollution affect our health
13.15: Plans for bigger roads, and alternatives (repeat)
14.00: Much better buses
15.00: What is climate change?
15.00: How does air pollution affect our health (repeat)This is a joint event with Shipley Town Council.
The day aims to be a great time out, to help you learn more, and to get your views of our proposals for better travel. Our alternative proposals to the current plans to spend £48m on widening Canal/Valley roads coming into Shipley from Bradford are here. You can leave comments on our alternatives at any time by using the ‘Add your views’ menu on this website.
Bradford Beck consultation – have your say by 16th January
The Council plans to open a culvert that covers the Bradford Beck alongside Valley Road, between Poplar Road and Briggate, and landscape that part of the greenway between Bradford and Shipley. This was originally part of the Bradford-Shipley Road Scheme but separate funding has been found for it.
You can see the plan, and please comment on it up to 16th January via the survey at https://www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/BradfordBeck.
There is very little change from the current pathway and grass, but among the general welcome for tidying up the area and enjoying the Bradford Beck, there have been some comments you might wish to consider.
- Include a cycle track separate from walkers.
- Put in lighting for walkers and cyclists so the greenway is usable after dark including for commuting in winter.
- Include a bridge or two for residents on Valley Road.
- Dual carriageway on Valley Road will be to the detriment of this scheme.
Third anniversary of Bradford council’s declaration of a climate emergency policies – councillors must do much more
All West Yorkshire councils declared a climate emergency in the first half of 2019, starting with Bradford on 15th January and ending with West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) on June 27th 2019.
Although transport emissions were identified by WYCA in June 2020 as the main source of greenhouse gases, WYCA’s Transport Committee has not considered a single report on the issue since then. Transport emissions have not reduced at all in the past decade.
The expansion of traffic capacity planned for Bradford-Shipley must be reviewed; the investment could be used instead to encourage less pollution from transport, not more. Current plans will generate considerably more air pollution through increased traffic volumes and congestion at bottlenecks. Instances of respiratory illness amongst the vulnerable including children with developing lungs and the elderly with vulnerable lungs is evidenced in our local hospitals and GP surgeries across the whole Bradford area.
West Yorkshire campaigners have said in an open letter to each member of WYCA transport committee:
“It is the responsibility of the WYCA Transport Committee to take the lead in facing up to this decarbonisation challenge, but our submission to you is that so far you have failed to discharge that responsibility.”
In December, Councillors in Bradford learned that the Bradford-Shipley road scheme has been amended, but no details of the amendments have been released. BSTA has always said that consultation must happen with full information about likely levels of traffic and air pollution. A change in the scheme will need approval. BSTA have asked what these changes are, and how they will be approved, and is waiting for a response. Bradford residents need the changes to prioritise the health of Bradford residents, and reduce greenhouse gases.