Calderdale is a popular area for leisure cycling, from road riders to mountain biking, after the Tour de France Grand depart put us firmly on the map. Despite this, utility cycling and safe routes on our roads are few. Communities across our borough are connected by Victorian roads which are small and become dominated by cars, making them feel unsafe for everyone else.
To enable more people to employ active travel we support our council to develop miles more cycle routes on our main highways which are safe, direct and put our most vulnerable road users first.
This can be an ambitious step towards making Calderdale an easier and more pleasant place to move around by bicycle, scooter, or on foot. We can show that more rural areas can have the same transformational cycling infrastructure that many major cities are now developing.
Creating safe routes, physically separated from motor traffic using barriers, bollards and planters, will mean that active travel can be an option for all residents including children, older people and those who are less confident on roads. Active travel has numerous health and wellbeing benefits, and it should be accessible for everyone. Cycling and walking are ideal forms of transport for shorter journeys. By enabling more people to make those trips walking or wheeling, we will also create space for those who need to use cars for longer journeys.
Calderdale Council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority have ambitious 2038 net zero targets which will requite a step change in transport habits to achieve. Implementation of active routes will also significantly help reach these ambitious carbon goals as it will enable more people to move away from using motorised transport. Air quality in towns like Todmorden and Hebden Bridge, which currently have Air Quality Management Areas, will also see improvements as the number of cars on our roads decreases.
Active routes will connect our neighbourhoods, market towns, employers and education, as well as providing an easier link to our rail network while helping to support our local economy.
Delivering these schemes in the face of a few vocal objectors can be an exhausting and demoralising task. This petition reiterates the local support for active travel schemes, and asks Calderdale Council to continue to work to deliver them.
