Leaders to splash out £629,000 for system to help plan Calderdale transport projects

Calderdale Council will buy a modelling system for £629,000 after hearing it will be crucial to planning transport projects in the future.
A new system will be bought to help plan transport projects in CalderdaleA new system will be bought to help plan transport projects in Calderdale
A new system will be bought to help plan transport projects in Calderdale

Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Regeneration and Economic Strategy Coun Barry Collins told colleagues buying the technology, developed by American multi-national engineering company AECOM, was important and would be used to get best results for the borough.

Cabinet members agreed and approved spending a likely £240,000 on the system, with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority having agreed to contribute £325,000 with the possibility of approving another £64,000 when it meets this month.

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Coun Collins (Lab, Illingworth and Mixenden) said the modelling strategy the council currently had was about ten years old and had been upgraded several times but new technology was needed for the future, informing the delivery of very major transport schemes.

Able to look at all aspects of how the transport system might perform in reaction to proposed schemes, the new system was “multi-modal” taking in private vehicles, public transport, walking and cycling.

It might also gain access for Calderdale to county-wide schemes which were being developed including the Mass Transit System – in reality a tram scheme – which was set to operate broadly around Leeds and Wakefield, he said.

At the moment it did not really reach Calderdale at all, said Coun Collins but was reaching Chain Bar, from where it could come down into Brighouse along the old railway route, he said.

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It was an example of how upcoming major transport schemes were going to affect Calderdale and the authority needed to test them properly.

Others included changing traffic patterns relating to the M62 motorway, which was infinitely busier than even ten years ago, with junction changes mooted, a new orbital road proposed by

Kirklees Council, and the enormous HS2 and HS3 rail projects announced by Transport In The North.

And the council’s own Local Plan, now with Planning Inspectors for assessment, which would have enormous implications with thousands and thousands of new homes likely to be built, meant schemes needed to be carefully and fully tested.

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Coun Collins said: “We need to be able to look at these potential developments and analyse potential implications. It will help in the coming years.”

The modelling system works by assessing infrastructure options and identifying how each would perform under those scenarios.

Funding to buy it could be done through the Directorate’s resources if the cost was spread over five years at £50,000 for four years and £40,000 in the fifth, councillors heard.