Supermarket giant Tesco is being asked to help fund the £1 million cost of a new footbridge over the Aire Valley trunk road.

Bradford Council wants the company to contribute to the long-awaited pedestrian link for Steeton and Silsden.

Any payment would be part of Tesco’s community contributions as part of its plans to build a new superstore in Silsden.

The footbridge would enable Steeton residents to reach the store on foot, and Silsden people to walk to the Silsden-Steeton railway station without crossing the busy trunk road.

The funding request is made under a proposed ‘Section 106 agreement’, where planning applicants are required to contribute cash to offset the impact their developments have on the local infrastructure.

Bradford Council is also asking Tesco to fund a planned new puffin crossing at the nearby Elliott Street/Clog Bridge junction, and pay for traffic lights on Keighley Road at the junction with its proposed access road.

Councillor Andrew Mallinson (Con, Craven) said he would “absolutely support” the footbridge funding request.

He said the idea has been put forward several years ago but the Council could not identify ways to fund it.

He said: “There has always been a case for a footbridge. For people who have to cross the very busy carriageway it would be a lifeline.

“I think a lot more people from Silsden would walk to the station, which would help ease congestion on the road.

“This footbridge would also allow Steeton residents to have access to the supermarket.”

The request for funding for the footbridge is contained in Bradford Council highways department’s response to Tesco’s planning application for the supermarket.

Highways officers said the trunk road, the A629, had severed the pedestrian link between Steeton and Silsden, but the Council had an aspiration for a high-quality crossing. No-one at Tesco was available to comment.