Huddersfield Connections – town centre walking & cycling plans
Access improvements to Huddersfield railway station are clearly needed. We support many of the Huddersfield Connections (Walking & Cycling) proposals but they are only part of the wider issue of access to the town centre as a whole. A general reduction in through traffic would contribute to a better environment for walking and cycling.
Our view is that cycle lanes would be useful in only some parts of the town centre. It is often quite impossible to legally travel directly from one part of the town centre to another on a bike. Apart from the single contraflow in Ramsden Street and a small amount of shared space, anyone on a bike normally has to follow the restricted routes designed for motor vehicles, which often return traffic to the Ring Road.
We support the plans for dedicated cycle lanes in Northumberland Street and John William Street. We have made a detailed critique of the plans for Trinity street, where we argue that cyclists and pedestrians need more priority over motor traffic when crossing the Ring Road.
We need to promote cycling for the short, every-day (under 5km) journeys, which are so often undertaken by car – trips to school or to see our friends/families, or into town for shopping. The off-road routes do provide limited help with this but are, on their own insufficient for a step change encouraging (multi-modal) sustainable transport.
The detailed submission is in three documents below.
