‘We have no guarantees’
CALLS TO REASSESS PLANS TO FUNNEL TRAFFIC FROM A62 ONTO OAK ROAD
PEOPLE living on a narrow Huddersfield street earmarked as a cut-through for traffic from the congested A62 say there are “no guarantees” that the unpopular plan will be reassessed.
People living on Oak Road at Bradley will have to wait a fortnight before Kirklees Council’s Cabinet decides whether to look again at the scheme, which forms part of a massive £75m project to cut congestion, improve air quality and reduce journey times around the busy Cooper Bridge junction.
Residents’ spokeswoman Angela Howard said: “If they do part of the scheme and then think again about Oak Road then there is hope, but there are no guarantees.”
The council has already spent more than £1m developing the project, which is known formally as the A62 to Cooper Bridge Corridor Improvement Scheme.
It involves the creation of a new roundabout at the Cooper Bridge junction, the widening of the A62 Leeds Road, and alterations to the busy junction at Bradley Road.
Those changes involve closing the right-hand turn onto Bradley Road from the A62 at Bradley junction and instead funnelling drivers along Oak Road.
Last month Cabinet agreed to approve the plan in principle and to move forward with a £10m business case.
It has now been asked to look again at proposals.
Cabinet member and senior councillor Peter McBride was among those who expressed doubts over the Oak Road element. He said he was “quite happy” for it to be reappraised.
The move was welcomed by James Homewood, one of three
Labour councillors for the Ashbrow ward in which Oak Road is located.
He said: “I was happy to hear Clr McBride commit to reexamining the diversion of traffic down Oak Road, which aligned with the commitment given at the Cabinet meeting.
“It was also helpful to get clarity from officers that the Oak Road changes can be removed from the scheme after [the creation of the] outline business case, so scope for changes does exist”.
Clr Martyn Bolt (Con, Mirfield), who was the lead signatory to the call-in request, said: “It shows that the call-in request was valid and vindicated.
“I hope that when this does go back to Cabinet they will accept the recommendations of the scrutiny panel and not seek to retain the decision they previously made”.
Cabinet will discuss the referral on November 16.