COUNCILLORS have been given a £104,000 budget to spend on Safer Road schemes in Keighley and Ilkley this year.

Half the cash will be spent on improvements to reduce road deaths and injuries in areas including Guard House, Highfield, Addingham, Utley and Ilkley.

Most of the rest will go on constituency-wide work such as disabled parking spaces, dropped kerbs, traffic surveys and traffic regulation orders.

Bradford Council granted the cash to Keighley Area Committee following changes to the way the annual district-wide Safer Roads budget was shared out.

For several years the main priority has been a 50 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in road collisions, coupled with encouraging more people to walk and cycle.

Since 2012, decisions on road safety schemes have been devolved to the five area committees, the money split equally, and this has helped reduce the number of road accidents in each area.

However, this approach meant each area committee did not have enough money to spend on major schemes, and there was no money left for district-wide projects.

Under the new share-out rules – approved recently by the council’s ruling Executive – City Hall ‘top-slices’ £120,000 from the budget for strategic schemes.

The rest of the budget has been shared out, with Keighley Area Committee receiving £53,900 for casualty reduction schemes and £50,000 for other community-priority schemes.

Three new projects will be carried out this year at a cost of £7,000 each: a 20mph zone in Mornington Street, Keighley; a one-way traffic calming scheme in Lustre Street and Mount Street next to St Andrew’s Primary School, off West Lane in Keighley; and a 50mph speed limit in Bolton Road at Addingham.

Around £32,000 will be spent finishing off 2017/18 schemes, including waiting restrictions in South Street, Keighley; speed reduction in Skipton Road, Utley; signing and lining improvements in West Lane, Keighley; speed signs in Skipton Road, Ilkley; and speed reduction in Leeds Road near Ashlands Primary School, Ilkley.

There will also be a 20mph zone in Glen Lee Lane, Keighley, costing £7000.

Community-priority work includes maintenance of vehicle-activated signs, disabled people’s parking, mobility improvements, traffic surveys, emergency schemes, traffic regulation orders and lining work.