Residents ‘ignored’ on £75m Cooper Bridge road plan

Highways chiefs with Kirklees Council have unveiled what has been dubbed the A62 to Cooper Bridge Corridor Improvement Scheme to cut congestion at Cooper Bridge, near Brighouse, and along one of the main routes into Huddersfield.

The complex programme includes funnelling traffic into Bradley by taking it off the A62 Leeds Road via Oak Road, which will be made one-way.

Traffic engineers say the improvements could lead to travel time savings for commuters varying from 51 seconds to three minutes and 11 seconds.

But people living on the street say they are “struggling to find any positives” in the council’s plan – and that they have received neither feedback nor acknowledgements to their concerns.

Neighbours Angela Howard and Barry Crofts have lived on Oak Road for 20 years and 43 years respectively.

They referred to the council’s plan as “diabolical”, “inconvenient” and “not worth the horrible disruption”.

Both said they received a formal letter last month advising of a six-week consultation ending on July 18.

That letter makes clear that the scheme will be paid for by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

It says: “If the scheme is not successful in securing the required funding the money earmarked for this project will be allocated elsewhere in the region, not necessarily in Kirklees.”

The initial plan, which involved a bypass and a flyover spanning the railway, canal and River Calder eventually linking with the A644 Wakefield Road near the M62, was ditched after concerns that ancient woodland containing the reputed grave of Robin Hood would be felled.