THE number of trips recorded on a number of “off highway” cycling and walking routes in West Yorkshire - including a local towpath has increased by 60 per cent.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority monitored five routes that were not linked to roads, including the resurfaced towpath on the Leeds Liverpool Canal between Riddlesden and Silsden, and the Castleford to Wakefield Greenway.

It showed a rise in usage of 60 per cent during the last six months of 2020 compared to the same period the previous year.

And in November there was an increase in cycling trips of 126 per cent.

A total of 17,553 trips were made on these routes in November 2020, compared with 7,765 trips in 2019.

Figures taken from automatic cycle counters along five key routes delivered by CityConnect show that from July to December 2020, a total of 140,408 trips were made on the off-highway infrastructure – up from 87,940 over the same period in 2019.

Of these off-highway trips a total of 50,741 were recorded over the weekend, representing an 89 per cent increase on the 26,790 weekend trips recorded for the same six-month period in 2019.

Work to two stretches of canal towpath to begin in Autumn

The Authority says it shows people were making the most of their area during Covid restrictions on travel.

The Combined Authority is working alongside a wide range of partners to ensure the region is a net zero carbon economy by 2038 and a key part of this will involve increasing levels of walking, cycling and use of public transport. The mid-term target is to see 300 per cent more trips by bike by 2027.

The routes monitored for these latest user figures comprise the resurfaced towpaths on Leeds Liverpool Canal between Riddlesden and Silsden, Rochdale Canal from Sowerby Bridge to Todmorden, Calderdale and Hebble Navigation and Huddersfield Narrow Canal, as well as the Castleford to Wakefield Greenway.

The route seeing the largest increase in walkers and cyclists - demonstrating consistently higher use month-on-month than the same period in 2019 - was the Castleford to Wakefield Greenway. July to December 2020 saw 30,804 cycling trips made on the Greenway, up from 15,539 for the same period in 2019, or a 98 per cent increase in trips.

CityConnect has been working alongside Wakefield Council, Leeds City Council and Sustrans, the walking and cycling charity, to deliver missing links in cycling and walking infrastructure around Castleford. Work on the fourth and final stage of the Castleford Greenway is set to finish in March 2021.

Councillor Kim Groves, Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee, said: “We’re really proud of our CityConnect walking and cycling infrastructure, and these increases in user numbers on our more local, off-highway routes are absolutely fantastic.

“We know many people having been getting outdoors more for exercise during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it’s great to see so many have been using our routes during this time.

“Encouraging more people to adopt active travel into their everyday lives is a big part of the Combined Authority’s vision for the future of travel in West Yorkshire, laid out in our Connectivity Infrastructure Plan.

“Our aim is to see communities better linked by an integrated network of local transport, walking and cycling options, and CityConnect routes will have a big role to play in making that a reality.”