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A cycling pressure group is to hold a demonstration about what it says is a lack of action by Kirklees Council to set up more cycling routes.
The demonstration by Cycle Kirklees will be next to Kingsgate at Shorehead roundabout on Oldgate in Huddersfield town centre on Saturday, October 19, at 10.30am.
The cyclists say they are holding the demonstration as they see no progress on the local cycling network and a lack of infrastructure investment undermining progress to emissions targets.
Cycle Kirklees chair Chris Knight said: “Our local ‘network’ is all gaps with little or no network. We’ve been working with Kirklees Council, responding to plan after plan for six years with still no network plan.
“So far we have only about a quarter of a mile of Leeds Road (A62) as new cycling infrastructure that meets the LTN2 national standard for cycling infrastructure design standards introduced in 2020.
“There’s a lot more happening in Leeds and Bradford and more ambition in Calderdale. We need to rally all those who want to cycle – or who have children who want to cycle to school – to get behind this campaign to ensure this authority and the Mayor of West Yorkshire start delivering.
“A new cohesive cycle network needs to be built making use of the limited cycle routes currently available. There is little ‘network’ of dedicated cycle paths in Kirklees that safely links up.
“There is also a need for the cycle network to be ‘recognisable’. That should be in the form of a network brand, recognisable route names like the London cycle ways and clear branded signage.”
Cycle Kirklees says the new road improvement scheme on Queensgate is an example of how they say cyclists have been let down.
They state: “We are concerned that this work on Queensgate has gone ahead in spite of consultations on the Southern Gateways that we responded to two years ago which we thought were agreed by officers and would have provided a better solution for pedestrians and cyclists.
“This stretch of road should have been designed to feature as a section of the only cycling route in the planned Kirklees Cycling Network. This was agreed three years ago following lengthy consultation to start a Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan.
“The first route agreed after detailed consultation and as a priority for a network plan was from Huddersfield Railway Station to Aspley Canal Basin via Queensgate and Wakefield Road to the green fields of Fenay Bridge.
“Despite the start of this route being next to the town centre and the university, cyclists will have to stay away and find safer routes to avoid this ‘racetrack.’
“This route has the highest propensity of any route in Kirklees to attract new cyclists and walkers and would provide benefits to more people if the road space was re-allocated.
“Lack of funding has been advanced as a reason for its abandonment but why are all schemes that improve cycling facilities stalled or abandoned in Kirklees? It is clear there has been a lack of political will and this is the legacy of the previous council regime.
“If the improvements promised as part of our first and only dedicated cycling scheme from Huddersfield station to Waterloo are paused indefinitely, what prospects are there for any network in this borough?”
Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.
