Road Clippings Oct-Dec '99Road Clippings Oct-Dec '99Sewers switch as relief road nears (T&A, 8/12/99)
Road in the fast lane? (Letters, T&A, 27/11/1999)
Is Wharfedale next in a grand motorway plot? (T&A, Nov 24, 1999)
Car parking could cost thousands (T&A, Oct 11, 1999)
T&A, Oct 11, 1999
Thousands of pounds could be spent replacing car parking in Bingley following the loss of 230 places caused by the building of the relief road.
Members of Bradford Council's policy and resources committee meeting tomorrow will consider a report on how to maintain short-stay parking facilities in the town - described as vital for its economic viability - at a cost of £395,000.
The report reveals the Council has already received £1.1 million in advance payment for compensation after the Midland Hill car park was bought undr a compulsory purchase order in 1997 to make way for the road.
And, although the Highways Agency could take possession of the car park land at any time, the Council has asked that it remains operational as long as possible so replacement parking can be found.
New car parking sites at Waterloo Road, Wellington Street, Queen Street/Ann Street and Ferncliffe Road - by the Magistrates' Court - have been identified by the Council which will restore 135 places.
However, the report says that will still leave a shortfall of 95 spaces to maintain the status quo.
Councillors are being recommended to approve the allocation of £1.1 million towards replacing car parking places and carrying out environmental improvements in the town to maximise the benefits of the relief road.
Philip Smith, chairman of the Better Bingley Campaign, said: "It's difficult to say how much the loss of Midland Hill car park will affect things.
"Up until a year ago the majority view was that if you took head counts of cars there was an over-capacity.
"But since then we have had a number of resident-parking schemes introduced, such as the one at Poplar House, and there has always been a big problem with on-street parking."
Meanwhile officers say the Council is locked in a battle with Fordgate, the would-be developer of Myrtle Walk Shopping Centre over the cost of a new link road, estimated to be £700,000.
The proposals are likely to mean Chapel Lane will close and be replaced by a link road between Wellington Street and Ferncliffe Road.
According to the same report the financial viability of the centre is so marginal that although it was originally envisaged the developer would pay the cost, this is now in question.
At worst it said: "This could result in the loss of the redevelopment proposals."
If this does happen the Council may contribute to its cost given the benefits the link road could provide for proposed town centre infrastructure improvements.
Another benefit would be the boon in car parking - the redevelopment proposals envisage a 600-space car park.
A public inquiry is scheduled to look into the long-running saga of Leeds-based developer Thornfield which wants to create a rival supermarket complex on the old Auction Mart site.
T&A, Nov 24, 1999
Green campaigners in Wharfedale are convinced a secret motorway is planned for the valley.
The Wharfedale Environmental Trust, a group that aims to protect the area from unwanted developments, believes the Wharfe Valley will soon be blighted with its own version of the M62.
Geoffrey Jones of the trust said by-passes for towns and villages along the valley had sparked a domino effect in creating a "major East West relief road".
"Some years ago, as the result of motorway road works in the Nelson/ Colne area of Lancashire, traffic flows coming into Skipton increased causing congestion," he said.
"The Skipton by-pass was built making the A65 faster so more traffic used it. This put pressure on Addingham and Burley-in-Wharfedale to have their own by-passes. More houses were built which brought more traffic and put pressure on Otley.
"So plans have been approved for the completion of the Otley relief road, again with 'in-fill' housing. If this plan goes ahead the increased traffic will then put huge pressures on the one domino still standing - the town of Ilkley which has so far resisted the idea of a by-pass," he said.
"But should it fall it will convert the A65/A660/A659 into the M62 relief road and within a few years the road will be jam-packed with heavy lorries and cars. People will ask if it was all a grand design from the start."
Letters, T&A, 27/11/1999
SIR - Re the "Traffic Concerns" letter from Richard Butler (T&A, November 12).
The vast majority of Bingley and district townspeople look forward to the completion of our much-needed relief road.
I am equally sure that we all, including the Highways Agency, have concern regarding the continuation of the route through Shipley to join up with the dual carriageway along Canal Road.
As the Shipley section will complete the up-rating of the A650 in our part of the country, I would be very surprised if there are still no plans for its completion.
J Stephenson, Ashrield Crescent Bingley.
by ROBERT SUTCLIFFE T&A Reporter, 8/12/99
Engineers from Yorkshire Water will begin work in January on a £1.3million scheme to move sewers away from the route of the new Bingley relief road.
Most of the work, which will take six months to complete, will be centred around the railway station and the Ferncliffe area of the town as well as the Queen's Road area of Crossflatts.
And tomorrow Yorkshire Water will hold a customer forum in Bingley's Trinity All Saints' School, formerly Holy Trinity, on the corner of Trinity Place and Church Street between 4pm to 7pm.
Residents will be able to find out more about the project by looking at the plans and questioning members of the project team.
Project manager Tony Urwin said, "We will be working near Bingley South Bog but the work will be outside the boundary of the bog and will not affect it.
"The scheme in that area has been specifically designed to take into account the water levels and the ecological balance of the South Bog."
Bingley town centre manager David Dinsey said: "It is important that as much preparatory work is carried out as soon as possible prior to the Highways Agency commencing the construction of the Bingley relief road.
"These advance works to be carried out by Yorkshire Water give the clearest indication that there is a total commitment from all agencies concerned."
Shipley Labour MP Chris Leslie has promised to monitor progress on the £60 million relief road scheme to ensure work starts without delay.
Design work on temporary and permanent bridge structures has already begun because it will be necessary to take down the Bradford Road bridge at Crossflatts as part of the scheme.