Routes along Bingley Road have been blocked off to cars. Traffic is being counted again to see how well the measures are working (this counter is on Tower Road). Traffic will be measured again in March, when an online questionnaire will ask for residents’ opinions of the changes. The measures will then be adjusted to work as well as possible. These experiments will help make similar schemes work well in Shipley, Frizinghall and elsewhere in Bradford.
Encouraging cars to use the boundary roads around neighbourhoods by limiting cut-through routes is intended to make residential areas safer and healthier. The aim is to make them easier to walk and cycle in, and to reduce car traffic overall. In other parts of the UK, schemes have been controversial but successful, according to this review of London Active Travel Neighbourhoods.
Continue to build support in Frizinghall and Manningham for walking and cycling, with health as the main focus.
Promote our alternatives to always using the car, including mass transit between Bradford and Keighley, and a workplace parking levy in Bradford centre.
Continue to build a relationship with key Council officers, as they develop their ideas for a revised Bradford-Shipley road scheme focused on walking, cycling and bus travel.
We have plenty of ideas about how together we can make an impact for the benefit of all.
Phillipa and Amal from Street Space will be drawing lessons from their work for the Travel Alliance in Frizinghall. The Street Space report is available to read before the meeting. They talked to residents and community organisers over the summer about the barriers to walking, cycling and bussing.
The meeting is at Tambourine Café, 7pm on Thursday 1st December. Refreshments provided. All welcome.
Road-end closures are being put in over the summer in the Active Travel Neighbourhoods in Bradford. The aim is to make roads safer by reducing traffic on side roads. Bradford Council’s Consultation is open for six months to assess your reaction to the changes.
Measures like these have been labelled ‘Streets for People’ by George Monbiot, who points out that traffic grew by just 36% on minor roads between 1995 and 2019 and has surged since 2010. On major roads it rose by just 1% in the same period. Some of the rise has been encouraged by satnav driving.
He says that as local streets become more dangerous, fewer local people are prepared to walk or cycle so they, too, turn to their cars. Measures to reduce traffic cutting through on minor roads are key to Active Travel Neighbourhoods, called Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in some places.
Despite opposition these measures are usually welcomed, and their success is seen by roads being reclaimed by people walking and using the space outside their houses for leisure and social activities.
Last weekend’s door-knocking in Shipley about active travel was very successful – many people were in and grateful for being pointed to the current consultation to stop rat-running and encourage walking and cycling. Around 60 signed up to keep in touch with Living Streets and with BSTA. Thanks for all who took part and especially Will’s organisation from Living Streets. We made good use of the new BSTA flyer.
To make the most of the consultation on Saltaire and Shipley which ends on 17th August, can you join us to do some door-knocking this coming weekend on Saturday 14th between 1 and 4 and Sunday 15th also between 1 and 4?
On Saturday we’ll meet in the car park on Saltaire Road/Exhibition Road, BD18 3JN. If you come later than 1pm then ring Ludi on 07747 565273 to find out where we are. The area Bradford Council are looking at includes Wycliffe so we’ll visit Park Street, Elliot Street and Wycliffe Road and Belmont Terrace which are used as short cuts for through traffic.
On Sunday we’ll knock on doors in Frizinghall. Although the consultation on the Active Travel Neighbourhood in Frizinghall is just finished, it will be good to raise awareness about the issues and begin to sign people up there who are concerned about car-dominance in travel. We’ll meet at 1pm at the top of Shipley Fields Road, BD18 3BL. Again, if you are later than 1pm, ring Ludi on 07747 565273 to find out where we are.
The consultation offers a map of the area and invites you to click on a place you think there is a problem. The problem might be speeding cars, rat-running through an area, parking, or anything that makes walking and cycling less attractive. You don’t have to suggest solutions, but you can if you think you know what would work: examples might be blocking a road at one end, speed bumps, one-way traffic, no-through-traffic signage, bus only stretches (bus gates), cycle or pedestrian only routes, lighting, information, training, maintenance, pedestrian seating or cycle parking, vehicle restrictions around schools, creation of walking or cycling groups, removal of steps or curbs, or whatever else you think would help. You can also read comments that have been made, and agree or disagree with them.
Bradford-Shipley Travel Alliance thinks that increased traffic capacity on Canal/Valley Road would put additional traffic pressure throughout Shipley, Frizinghall and many places from Keighley to Tong, Baildon to Wyke. Along with many of our affiliates we welcome measures to make cycling and walking easier, and to reduce the need for the car to be the dominant way of travelling.
Will Sanderson of Living Streets is encouraging residents to respond to this consultation, and educating residents about the impact of more traffic on the Bradford-Shipley route. Get in touch if you can join him knocking on doors on 7th and 8th August or any other time (admin@bsta.org.uk, or Will on 07970 654333).
