Council 'still waiting' for detail of Shipley bypass plan

At the last full Council meeting of 2023, a Conservative Councillor urged Bradford’s Labour group to “stop standing in the way” of the proposed bypass – which would relieve traffic into and out of Shipley town centre.

Shipley MP Philip Davies has been pushing for the scheme to progress for many years.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak included the bypass in an announcement detailing transport projects in the North.

But at the recent Council meeting, Councillor Alex Ross Shaw (Lab, Windhill and Wrose), who is executive for planning, regeneration and transport, said the Department for Transport had provided no further detail on their bypass proposals.

Councillor Paul Sullivan (Cons, Bingley Rural) put forward a motion at the meeting urging the Council to take action on the scheme.

His motion said: “The current Labour Council still seems to be looking to generate evidence to deny the residents of the district from benefiting from a scheme which would benefit them.

"The residents of the outer towns and villages have long perceived the Labour Council to be unduly city centric.”

It called for the authority to “stop prevaricating in this matter and expend as much energy in delivering this funded scheme for the benefit of the district’s residents and economy". 

Referring to his motion, Cllr Sullivan said the need for a bypass had been identified “decades ago” adding: “There are no further obstacles to negotiate.”

He claimed the Council had, over the years, made excuses for not developing the bypass, questioning why the Government had felt the scheme was worth funding while the Council did not.

He said the lack of progress with the scheme “makes me and residents suspicious” adding: “It would not just benefit residents of the immediate area, but also people living in the urban areas.”

Shipley Councillor Martin Love put forward an amended motion on behalf of the Green party saying the Council should “Resist the pressure from the local MP to waste further effort on his personal pet project.”

He said previous road projects in the district have failed to cut down on congestion, adding: “The old saying goes ‘the definition of stupidity is to keep on making the same mistakes and expecting different results'.

“That’s what we’ve been doing with trying to deal with congestion for decades. Most parties realise this (building new roads) doesn’t work and we need to look at different ways of doing things.

“I urge the Council to close this file on Shipley Eastern Bypass and stick it on the shelf with all the other pie in the sky schemes we’ve abandoned over the years as unworkable.”

Cllr Ross Shaw said: “Thanks to the Shipley MP for taking time out from his busy TV presenting schedule to write this motion for the Tory Councillors. It is full of the usual half-truths and nonsense usually spouted when this scheme is raised.”

Councillor Alex Ross Shaw (Image: newsquest)

He said the scheme was first proposed in 2012 as part of the West Yorkshire+ Transport Fund.

He told Councillors the plan failed to get Government sign-off at the time because its business case was not strong enough.

He added: “The issue with this scheme has always been the same – to build a bypass between Shipley, Windhill and Baildon you need to take out a load of business land that viable and vibrant businesses are operating.

"That creates negative economic impact that is not overcome by the low amount of land unlocked. It just didn’t stack up.

“There is no conspiracy, it was just a scheme that wasn’t good enough, obsessed over by the local MP.”

He said feasibility studies carried out for the scheme since then brought up the same issues.

Referring to the Prime Minister’s mention of the bypass as a scheme that would make up his Network North plans, Cllr Ross Shaw said: “We’ve been proactively asking the Department for Transport what the plans for the bypass are, we’ve not had an answer, so we can’t progress anything with no money and no plan from the Government.

“Should something be forthcoming, we’ve been clear that the old scheme doesn’t necessarily meet the needs of Shipley today, we’d like to take a more holistic view that will help regenerate the town centre, not just let people drive faster past it.”

Councillors voted to approve the Labour motion which said the Council would “continue to press Government to reveal their intentions behind the recent announcement and engage them on next steps".