How funding will reshape ‘creaking’ infrastructure
TRANSPORT CHIEFS SUBMIT BID
TRANSPORT chiefs in West Yorkshire have submitted their bid for funding to upgrade the county’s creaking infrastructure.
The Leeds City Region organisation, which manages the interests of all of West Yorkshire’s councils, says if it gets the half-a-billion pounds it has applied for it will create two new park and rides, six new and improved bus stations, 800 new cycle parking spaces, six key priority bus routes, improvements to seven rail stations and one new station.
New cycling paths are also part of the bid.
In Kirklees, the projects earmarked for cash include a refurbishment of Huddersfield Bus Station and an upgrade of the railway station.
Dewsbury is pencilled in for a new bus station and highquality walking and cycling routes to the town centre and Kirklees College.
Bus users in Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike will benefit from new bus hubs and there will be improvements to bus reliability and cycling and walking routes on the A638 between Dewsbury and Bradford and from Batley towards Leeds on the A653.
A new segregated cycle route between Huddersfield town centre and east Huddersfield is also proposed.
Clr Susan Hinchcliffe, chairman of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and leader of Bradford Council, said: “Through this ambitious City Region Transforming Cities Fund bid we are setting out how we plan to improve people’s access to employment, education and training and our businesses’ ability to grow and invest with access to a valuable and skilled local workforce.
“Crucially, it addresses the challenges currently experienced by our most disadvantaged communities where people are cut off from opportunities because they don’t have access to affordable and sustainable travel.
“This bid will provide local people with a real alternative to travelling by car, enabling them to make sustainable journeys that are better for their physical and mental wellbeing and our environment and it will enable us to reshape our town and city centres by putting people at their heart.”
Officials say across the county the new facilities would improve the journeys of 1.5m people and take 12m car trips off the road. They are projected to create 1,100 jobs by 2036 while giving a £1bn boost to the economy.
Other projects of note included in the plan include a major facelift for the front of Leeds rail station and a new station at the White Rose Centre.