Road Clippings Jan - Mar 2001Road Clippings Jan - Mar 2001Work on bypass `will finish months early' (T&A, 28 March 2001)
Village bypass plans resurrected (T&A, 15 March 2001
It's all systems go! (T&A, 3 March 2001)
Traffic truths (Letters, T&A, 24 Feb 2001)
Relief road will be the death of us (Letters, T&A, 15 Feb 2001)
End our concerns (Letters, T&A, 9 Feb 2001)
The price of noise (Letters, T&A, 9 Feb 2001)
Law breakers (Letters, T&A, 9 Feb 2001)
Residents `shocked' at extent of felling (T&A 1 Feb, 2001)
Greens in blocking bid (T&A, 1 Feb 2001)
The price of peace (and quiet) (T&A, 29 Jan 2001)
by Kathryn Kittley and William Stewart, T&A, 29 Jan 2001
Hundreds of thousands of pounds are to be spent protecting homes against noise from Bingley's long-awaited relief road.
Residents in about 140 homes, close to the route of the dual carriageway bypass, have been contacted by the Highways Agency and offered help with alterations, estimated at costing between £1,000 and £2,000 per property.
But householders have complained they have not been given enough information about the work as the contract for the £60 million project, one of the district's biggest road schemes, is about to be awarded.
John Symons, pictured, lives within 300 metres of a roundabout on the new road and has already had surveyors measuring up windows at his flat in Eldon House, Ferncliffe Road, Bingley. He has visited a nearby mobile display unit to see if he would have to pay anything towards the cost of the alterations but says he has yet to receive a definite answer.
"We have been given guidelines but nothing concrete," he said. "I would like confirmation that this won't cost me anything and I would like to know when the work will take place.
"Obviously with a new road there is going to be more traffic. But I have got no problem with that so long as the insulation is free."
Councillor Robin Owens (Con, Bingley) said he had also received little information about the sound proofing scheme and was sceptical about when construction work would start.
"As a local councillor this would concern me if I thought the road was about to be built," he said.
"It is extremely important for these residents to have sound proofing once the noise is there. But I am not sure how imminent the scheme really is."
Barbara Foulds, of Bradford Old Road, Cottingley, said she would have to weigh up whether it was worth having the work done because although the extra glazing would reduce noise, it would also take up space.
"Although I can see the traffic, I cannot hear it at the moment and I value my windowsills which would have to go," she said.
But both residents could see the benefits of a bypass to take the estimated 23,000 vehicles which travel through Bingley each day.
Shipley Labour MP Chris Leslie, said the properties receiving the help had been split into three - those likely to suffer from construction noise, those likely to suffer from traffic noise once the road was built and those likely to be hit by both.
Properties in the first group included low rise flats on Ferncliffe Road, Bingley. More Bingley properties at the junction of Ferncliffe Road and Kingsway and at the bottom of Church Road were in the second group. Areas in the third group included Dubb Lane, Busfeild Street and Longwood View, Bingley; and Sleningford Road, Kings Road and Queens Road in Crossflatts.
Mr Leslie, said: "I think there is no doubt that there will be disruption from construction and there will be some inconvenience.
"But it will definitely be worth it in the long term if you can remove the congestion and properly compensate the people affected. We are now at the stage where work is about to start. I am really pleased that the foot is on the accelerator with this scheme."
Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Shipley David Senior said: "If it is true that residents have not been given enough information then it is very poor. We have already had three years delay with this project so there has been plenty of time to talk to them."
A Highways Agency spokesman said a shortlist of applications for the road-building contract was being considered and the successful bid would be announced shortly.
Preparation work is well underway with trees now cleared at Bankfield Hotel and checks are being made on the route to ensure a spring start for the bypass, which could take 60 per cent of the traffic out of the congested main road. Work on the five kilometre length of dual carriageway is expected to take about three years to complete.
by Kathryn Kittley, T&A, 1 Feb 2001
A green action group still hopes to block work on Bingley's new bypass by taking its objections to the highest level.
Bingley Environmental Transport Association (BETA) has written to the European Commission with concerns that an environmental impact assessment was not properly carried out.
BETA chairman Professor Richard Butler claimed the assessment was a legal requirement under European law and demanded the Highways Agency suspended work.
Professor Butler, of Villa Road, said the Highways Agency used criteria to judge the suitability of the scheme which was not in line with European Union regulations. He said: "The Highways Agency used six criteria for evaluating the environmental impact. These included noise, air pollution, biodiversity, heritage and water and the road scores negative on four of these points.
"The overall assessment was not in accordance with European regulations."
Professor Butler also claims a road review by the Highways Agency identified 515 properties which would be affected by noise rather than the 140 households which have been contacted about sound insulation.
He said: "The highways scheme does not compensate those who live further away but who will still be affected." He said BETA had more than 300 supporters and another six groups, including organisations in Riddlesden and Shipley, had backed the call to stall work.
Shipley's Green Party councillor David Ford said a full public inquiry should be carried out before the contract was signed.
Chris Leslie, MP for Shipley, said: "I am confident the legal process required by both UK and EU law has been fully complied with and it is a pity there are still a small number of people determined to stop what has been a democratically approvedscheme."
A spokesman for the Highways Agency said: "We have not heard anything more from the European Commission about whether they intend to pursue it further and we are not going to suspend work. As far as we are concerned the matter of the Environmental Impact Assessment is closed. When a noise assessment was done it was envisaged that 515 properties would suffer some increase in noise and, after doing noise checks, only 140 properties suffered some intrusion."
T&A, 1 Feb, 2001
Householders in Bingley are concerned at "excessive" tree felling as preparations for the long-awaited £60 million by-pass go into their final stages.
Mature trees have been chopped down at the Bankfield Hotel, pictured left, to clear a path for the relief road. Work on the by-pass is due to start in the Spring.
But some residents have been shocked by the early changes to the landscape and are seeking reassurance that the trees will be replaced.
Lucy Parker, 41, of Branksome Drive, said: "The area looks hideous with all the trees missing. What has happened there is a real mess.
"We are supposed to be concerned about the environment and people are always telling us what a polluted atmosphere there is. Then they go and chop all the trees down, when they take out carbon dioxide and put oxygen into the atmosphere."
But a spokesman for the Highways Agency, which is about to award a contract for building the road to one of a shortlist of four bidders, said sensitive environmental work would be carried out.
He said: "Screening has been provided at certain locations on the scheme to protect properties and public areas from views of the new road and sympathetic planting with indigenous species of plants and trees will be undertaken to mitigate the effect."
Letters, T&A, 9 Feb 2001
SIR - The felling of yet one more area of mature trees along the proposed route of the Bingley Relief Road has given many people in Airedale a shock.
Now we can begin to picture the swathe the road is going to cut down the valley. What we are losing is irreplaceable; what we are likely to receive is unjustifiable.
The road lobby and its supporters made sure that it has been difficult to see just what the impact one 5km stretch of the road will have on the environment. In fact the Government has actually refused to conduct a proper environmental impact assessment, as required by European law and civilised standards.
In other words our Government intends to break the law and award contracts this month without any clear idea of the consequences for the environment and the people of the Aire Valley.
Professor Butler (T&A, Feb 1) was right in calling for a proper assessment first.
David Bateman, Hospital Road, Riddlesden.
Letters, T&A, 9 Feb 2001
SIR - Traffic noise has a significant effect not only on health (T&A January 29), but also on the value of property.
In 1998 the Highways Agency published a document of assessment on the effects of the so-called Bingley "relief" road. This included an increase in noise for a significant number of properties nearer to the new route. A figure of 515 was clearly quoted.
Some properties qualify for sound insulation work during construction of the road. This is most likely in the Ferncliffe Road, Crossley Wood, Cottingley Bar and Crossflatts areas.
Property depreciation from noise, fumes, vibration, dirt, light, smell and other physical factors is linked to the use of the road. Unfortunately claims for property depreciation can only be addressed 12 months and one day after the road opens.
Penny Ward (secretary, Aire Valley Conservation Society), Ghyllwood Drive, Bingley.
Letters, T&A, 9 Feb 2001
SIR - Anyone who read your article, "The Price of Peace and Quiet" which referred to the plans of the Highways Agency (HA) to soundproof houses in the immediate vicinity of the Bingley relief road, should be under no illusion that for every house insulated, many more in need of sound proofing will certainly remain unaltered.
How are we, the residents of Bingley, expected to silence the road noise when we need to open our windows, especially in the summer months, and breathe "fresh air"?
Which are the 515 houses eligible for soundproofing? Are each of us to be informed directly by the HA?
When will the soundproofing be undertaken - before or after we've had to endure all the construction noise?
I notice that Bingley councillors and the HA have been particularly vague in addressing such matters. It's time these issues were clarified. Chris Leslie, and our local councillors, must respond to the fears and concerns of the local residents if they hope to be re-elected.
Peter Kirton, Queensway, Bingley.
Letters, T&A, 15 Feb 2001
SIR, I Feel compelled to reply to your correspondent (Letters, February 7) who was against objections to the Bingley Relief Road being submitted to the European Commission.
I own a car, and I have crawled many times through Bingley in the rush hour, but lam also a Bingley resident.
The new road is a relief road, NOT a bypass, and it will split Bingley in two, with the shopping centre on one side of the relief road and most of the residents on the other side.
There will be major motorway-type intersection in Ferncliffe Road, not far from the Safeway supermarket. Who will want to spend time in Bingley blighted by a four-lane highway? The many who have cars will go elsewhere and no-one else will stop.
Noise from the road will affect the whole valley, and more vehicles moving faster will spew out more pollution. The road will be clearly visible from the jewel in Bingley’s crown, the Five Rise Locks, and at the Three Rise Locks it will run directly alongside the canal. The desecration has started with trees felled at Crossflatts, Dowley Gap and the Bankfield Hotel.
I live on one of Bingley’s busy rat-runs, but I would far rather have nose-to-tail traffic ten feet from my door than see this Final death-blow to Bingley
Mrs R C Hollins, Micklethwaite Lane, Bingley.
Letters, T&A, 24 Feb 2001
SIR - Kevin Robinson (T&A, February 7) is apparently unaware that the proposed Bingley road would bring around 50 per cent more traffic through Bingley, would redistribute thousands of vehicle trips daily on to longer routes round Bingley's side roads, and would just transfer peak-hour crawl from central Bingley to Cottingley Bar, Saltaire and Heaton.
Does he not know the net effect of that is increased total emissions? Further, is he aware that environmental effects come in numerous forms beyond fumes?
While reports persistently propagate the misconceptions that the proposed Bingley road is a bypass instead of a duplicate trunk route through the town, and that its opponents are all "greens" instead of a diverse spectrum of level-headed Airedale residents, Mr Robinson has grounds for pardon.
But it is naïve for anyone to think that MPs or officialdom take everything into account. Perhaps your correspondent missed the recent legal ruling that it is inconsistent for Ministers to be both judge and jury in the planning decision-making system - as occurred regarding the proposed Bingley Road!
A J Plumbe, Oakwood Drive, Bingley.
T&A, 15 March 2001
Consultants have been appointed to look at proposals to bypass traffic-choked villages - three years after original bypass schemes were scrapped.
North Yorkshire County Council has commissioned a study to look at the impact of traffic on the A65 through the villages of Gargrave, Coniston Cold, Hellifield and Long Preston, north of Skipton.
The road carries thousands of vehicles a day on the main route to the M6 and the Lake District. The road is due to be de-trunked and become the responsibility of the county council, not the Highways Agency
Ten years ago approval was given for a £10 million bypass around Gargrave and plans were also drawn up to bypass nearby Coniston Cold and Hellifield.
But they were scrapped soon after the Labour Government came into power in 1997, sparking widespread anger among many villagers.
In the early 1990s, at least 7,000 vehicles a day were recorded passing through the communities.
Andrew Hugill, of NYCC highways department, said the Wakefield-based Babtie Group had been appointed to carry out the survey, which was expected to last five months.
They would look at the problems suffered by the communities and identify solution.
"The county council has indicated that it sees schemes to relieve problems suffered by communities on the route as a high priority in its local transport plan," he said.
by Kathryn Kittley, T&A, 28 March 2001
The newly-appointed contractors for the Bingley Relief Road say they hope to finish the £47.9million project months ahead of schedule.
Amec Capital Projects, which was awarded the contract for the bypass yesterday by the Highways Agency, has announced its aim to have the route open to traffic by autumn 2003 instead of the expected opening date of the start of 2004.
Campaigners for the relief road welcomed the news that the deal had finally been sealed to build the dual carriageway, which will cut traffic in Bingley's congested town centre.
The contract, which was originally estimated at £60million, is expected to create hundreds of jobs in the area, and Chorley-based Amec pledged to source most of its supplies locally, offering a boost for businesses which provide construction materials.
Pat Rand, chairman of the Better Bingley Campaign which has battled for the scheme for a decade, described the bid for early completion as "excellent news".
"The relief road cannot come too soon," he said.
" We are aware there will be more upheaval in the town before it is completed, but it is pain that has to be endured for a better outcome. We are very pleased it is finally happening as we have waited for a long time."
The five-kilometre stretch of dual carriageway from Crossflatts roundabout to Cottingley Bar is expected to relieve up to 20,000 vehicles from the traffic-choked town each day.
Extensive advance work has already been carried out by the Highways Agency, which has diverted canals and sewers and the railway to construct a new bridge at Dowley Gap, but the main construction is due to start in summer.
Project engineer Peter Scally said: "The road will bring a number of improvements for motorists and residents. It will ease a major bottleneck through the Aire Valley and will allow the centre of Bingley to regenerate free from constant heavy traffic."
He said residents would be kept up to date with the scheme and Amec is planning a public consultation for April to explain the plans and how residents will be affected by the building programme.
Shipley MP Chris Leslie said the end of congestion and frustration for drivers and residents was in sight.
And Bradford Council leader Councillor Margaret Eaton, who represents Bingley Rural ward, said: "This really should make a big difference to the development of Bingley town and the potential for trade in Bingley to thrive yet again."