Transport blueprint puts focus on congestion and road safety

Bradford Council has produced a Local Implementation Plan to provide a local focus for the wider West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan 2011-2026 which was approved by the West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority earlier this year.

As well as reducing congestion and improving road safety, the local plan aims to support new housing and jobs and help to regenerate local communities.

The plan aims to make it easier for people to access services, places and amenities by sustainable means.

It is also hoped that the blueprint will improve the environment by reducing harmful emissions and meet the transport needs of the district’s most vulnerable people.

Bradford Council’s executive member for environment and sustainability, Ghazanfer Khaliq, said: “As well as having many strengths, Bradford has many challenges to meet in the future and needs an excellent transport system to meet those challenges.

“We need to build our economy, increase our housing stock, reduce carbon emissions to help improve our citizens’ quality of life.

“Transport has an essential contribution to make to all of these objectives.”

Members of Bradford Council’s executive will be asked to approve the Bradford version of the Local Implementation Plan when they meet on June 24.

They will also be asked to agree to review the plan in three years in the context of the area’s local development framework, the strategic transport needs of the district and the prevailing economic conditions.

Before the report goes to the executive on June 24, it will be examined by the environment and waste management overview and scrutiny committee on June 9.

The report to be considered by the executive says: “The West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan Strategy and the Bradford Local Implementation Plan contain a number of initiatives aimed at managing carbon emissions within the context of the predicted growth in the economy.

“Combined with Government action and advances in vehicle technology it is predicted that CO2 emissions will fall significantly by 2026 across West Yorkshire.

“The Bradford Local Implementation Plan also stresses the importance of the council demonstrating community leadership in the essential task of reducing the carbon impacts of transport.”

The Bradford Local Implementation Plan also includes schemes and projects which it is hoped will improve safety and reduce the number of casualties on the roads as well as boosting personal security on public transport.

Bradford Council is responsible for 1,187 miles of roads in the district, 400 road bridges, 1,000 retaining walls, 300 footbridges, 57,000 street lights, and 337 traffic signal junctions and pelican crossings.

A report on the Bradford Local Implementation Plan says that Bradford is expected to experience strong housing and employment growth as the economy recovers, facilitated by specific schemes including work to regenerate the city centre, the Bradford-Shipley Canal Road corridor, Airedale and Manningham areas.

The area had been set a target by Government, through the former Regional Spatial Strategy, to provide almost 50,000 new homes by 2026.

According to the report, this level of housing growth is still likely to be required due to the district’s fast growing population.

The report says: “If we are to unlock the economic potential of the district we will have to find a way to balance the needs of a growing economy with the needs of residents and communities – a move towards a model for sustainable economic development for the district, which would be supported through targeted investment in transport initiatives.”