Fresh look at part of contentious Cooper Bridge road plan

Roads bosses are re-appraising a key element of a contentious plan to cut congestion at the Cooper Bridge bottleneck on the Calderdale/Kirklees boundary near Brighouse
By Tony Earnshaw - Local Democracy Reporter
Published 24th Jun 2022, 11:12 BST
Updated 24th Jun 2022, 11:15 BST
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Kirklees Council has asked staff to “re-look” at part of the £75m A62 to Cooper Bridge Corridor Improvement Scheme, which includes closing the right-hand turn onto Bradley Road from the A62 at Bradley junction and instead funnelling drivers along Oak Road, a narrow residential street.

Last November council chiefs approved the drawing-up of a £10m business case for the project, which is designed to cut congestion, improve air quality and reduce journey times.

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Earlier that month the scheme was formally “called in” for review at a special meeting of the council’s Economy and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel where it was revealed that 28 options, all discarded in favour of the current scheme plan, had not been put before the decision-making cabinet.

An artist’s impression of Oak Road, the narrow residential street in Bradley that is likely to be used as a “funnel” for traffic off the congested A62 Leeds Road as part of a multi-million pound scheme being considered by Kirklees Council. (Image: Kirklees Council)An artist’s impression of Oak Road, the narrow residential street in Bradley that is likely to be used as a “funnel” for traffic off the congested A62 Leeds Road as part of a multi-million pound scheme being considered by Kirklees Council. (Image: Kirklees Council)
An artist’s impression of Oak Road, the narrow residential street in Bradley that is likely to be used as a “funnel” for traffic off the congested A62 Leeds Road as part of a multi-million pound scheme being considered by Kirklees Council. (Image: Kirklees Council)

Local campaigners and critics of the scheme wanted those options to be investigated. Officers said they would not but that the Oak Road aspect was “on the table”.

That has now been confirmed by local councillor James Homewood (Lab, Ashbrow), who supports local people and who previously sought a review of the 28 discarded options.

He said: “Since the call-in I have had some discussions with a new team of highways officers who have been asked to re-look at the Oak Road proposal. My understanding is that they are currently undertaking more detailed assessments of the impact on traffic if a right turn from Leeds Road to Bradley Road were maintained, removing the need to make changes at Oak Road.

“At this stage that assessment hasn’t been completed so they can’t have come to a final position on this yet.”

Related topics:KirkleesCalderdale