Residents on a narrow street which could be made one-way as part of a congestion-busting road scheme could be left in limbo for up to two years.

Kirklees Council has proposed major changes as part of the £75 million A62 Leeds Road to Cooper Bridge Corridor Improvement Scheme.

Part of that involves banning a right turn at Bradley traffic lights and making Oak Road one-way between Leeds Road and Bradley Road.

Residents on Oak Road say funneling traffic down the narrow street will blight their homes, even if the council imposes a ban on HGVs.

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Clr Peter McBride, the council’s Cabinet member for regeneration, has promised a “reappraisal” however the one-way plan remains on the table for the forseeable future.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Cabinet, councillors voted to send the scheme to the next stage – known as Outline Business Case – where Kirklees will ask for £10 million from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to carry out a detailed preparation and come up with a final scheme.

At this stage, the meeting was told, nothing is decided or set in stone and – in theory – the plans for Oak Road could be amended or removed altogether.

Residents at a protest meeting in Oak Road

Edward Highfield, the council’s service director for skills and regeneration, told Cabinet that the final scheme would be subject to “further refinement particularly around Oak Road.”

Referring to the suggested ban on HGVs – which the meeting was told may send lorries down estate roads Brooklands, Allandale and Keldregate instead – Mr Highfield admitted officers didn’t know where HGVs would go.

He said by agreeing to progress to Outline Business Case those investigations could take place.

Mr Highfield outlined the current timelines which showed the Outline Business Case application would go to the Combined Authority by the end of 2021 with consultations with local residents in 2022.

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However, it would be “early 2024” before the final scheme came before Cabinet for approval.

Clr McBride, who is stepping down from the council in May, told the meeting that the major feature of the scheme – the new-look Cooper Bridge roundabout – was not in doubt and was “sound.”

He added: “There is a problem with Oak Road and that element will be looked at. There was widespread concern, which I shared, and we are prepared to look at this in the proper manner.”

What Cooper Bridge roundabout could look like

The previous Cabinet decision for the scheme was ‘called in’ following a request by Clr Martyn Bolt. A Scrutiny Panel carried out a review and made a series of recommendations.

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Cabinet accepted the need for more clarity and clearer language and changes were made to the report presented to Tuesday’s meeting.

So much information was presented that the report ran to more than 1,100 pages described by Clr McBride as a “record.”