No new road improvement schemes in the near future (From Keighley News)

No new road improvement schemes in the near future

3:00pm Thursday 12th July 2012 in News

No new traffic management schemes are to be added to the improvement list until at least next April in Denholme, Cullingworth and Harden.

Shipley Area Committee's budget for 2012/13 will instead be spent on improvement schemes approved in previous years.

This year’s money is expected to cover less than half of the £300,000 backlog of work in Shipley, Bingley and surrounding villages.

Schemes on the list include 20mph zones in Main Street, Wilsden, and Long Lane, Harden, and parking restrictions in Station Road, Cullingworth, and Main Street (outside Laurel Bank), Wilsden.

Also on the list are parking restrictions for new housing in Micklethwaite Lane and The Drive, Crossflatts.

The area committee, part of Bradford Council, each year approves funding for several traffic management projects drawn from a longer list of requests, many dating back several years.

The council last year gave the committee £131,568 – a large reduction on the previous year – and a similar amount is expected this year. The council said that this reduction, caused by public spending cuts, has had a “severe impact” on how many of the approved schemes could be carried out.

A report to last night’s planned meeting of Shipley Area Committee recommended that this year’s budget was spent on the existing traffic management measures programme.

The report stated: “Due to overspending on the number of traffic schemes, no new traffic schemes are recommended in the current programme.”

The report said that in recent years a number of issues had contributed to work being delayed or the cost of schemes escalating.

These included increased public consultation for road schemes, significant alterations to some projects, and significant increases in costs for individual schemes.