Have your say on Dewsbury road closures aimed at helping cyclists and pedestrians

Kirklees Council is asking residents to highlight how conditions can be improved for cyclists and pedestrians..
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As part of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Kirklees Council says it is wanting to understand which areas can be improved across the region to help people travel more easily by bike or on foot, and to provide more space to travel safely while social distancing.

Kirklees is taking part in a West Yorkshire-wide engagement where residents can have their say on how to improve conditions to encourage more people to travel actively.

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Councillor Shabir Pandor, Leader of Kirklees Council said: “The coronavirus pandemic has been a terrible and difficult period but it has also taught us a lot.

Dewsbury town centreDewsbury town centre
Dewsbury town centre

“We have a real opportunity here to completely rethink the way our towns and villages work. With so many turning to active travel during these unprecedented times, I hope that something we take away from this is a renewed focus on supporting people to walk and cycle.

“If we are to do this, we need to think about barriers that might be standing in the way. We need to build on the appetite people have shown for cycling, running and walking by immediately addressing some of these barriers.”

Kirklees Council has already revealed immediate changes it is making to Dewsbury Town Centres to improve conditions for cyclists and pedestrians.

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There will be a temporary trial conversion of Dewsbury Ring Road to make the nearside lane between A635 Leeds Road and A638 Bradford Road/Northgate for cyclists only.

Halifax Road between Northgate and Dewsbury Ring Road will also be closed to motor vehicles.

Long Causeway will also be closed to all traffic except buses between Dewsbury Ring Road and Town Hall Way to further improve access for cyclists and pedestrians.

The Government wants to reduce the amount of people relying on public transport and cars so has made £2billion available to support projects such as cycle and walking routes via the Active Travel fund.

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Councillor Naheed Mather, Cabinet Member for Greener Kirklees, said: “We’ve seen such a huge increase in the amount of people cycling, walking and running in recent months and we want to continue to encourage this.

“Active travel has huge benefits on both the health of individuals but also the environment and we have seen air pollution drop during the lockdown period.

“Our Huddersfield and Dewsbury Blueprint regeneration plans have greener forms of travel running right through them. This is further supported by our commitments to tackle the Climate Emergency and to make Kirklees completely carbon neutral by 2038.

“Active and green travel has been right at the top of our agenda for some time and now is the time to take that commitment even further.”