A MUCH needed link between two villages will be developed as a "shovel ready" project - despite no funding having been identified yet.

A £5.5 million plan to build a pedestrian and cycle bridge over the A629 Aire Valley trunk road - which separates Steeton and Silsden, was given the go ahead at a meeting of West Yorkshire Combined Authority yesterday.

No funding source has yet been identified for the scheme, but members of the Authority's Investment Committee said it was important the plans were ready to go as soon as funding was made available.

During the meeting members were told that the road - a dual carriageway, prevented people from walking or cycling between the villages without taking their lives into their hands.

Roughly 13,000 people live in the two villages, according to the 2011 census.

A recent survey found that just 11 per cent of commuter journeys between the two areas were on foot, and only 1 per cent were by bike

Melanie Corcoran, Director of Delivery, told the Committee: "Steeton and Silsden are approximately a mile apart, but walking or cycling between the two is extremely difficult.

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"There is a dual carriageway between them - four lanes with traffic going up to 70 mph.

"There is also a railway line, the River Aire and the Leeds Liverpool Canal separating the two.

"This makes it difficult to promote cycling or walking between the two."

The Authority had been awarded £700,000 by the Department for Transport to look at improving links, and the preferred option was a bridge over the road that would be large enough for pedestrians and cyclists to use.

Mrs Corcoran said: "This would eliminate a key barrier between the communities, with 100 per cent segregation from the highway, which will lead to a reduction in accidents.

"We believe it will lead to a 20 per cent increase in walking and 50 per cent increase in cycling between the two villages."

The committee, holding its first in person meeting since March 2020, voted to release £490,000 from the initial DFT funding pot to draw up a full business case for the plan.

Mrs Corcoran said: "The funding for the scheme stops at that point. But hopefully we'll be in a position where we have a shovel ready scheme when any funding does come in."

Calderdale Councillor Jane Scullion (Lab, Luddendenfoot), said: "Anyone who knows that area knows how wide that road is and how fast traffic goes on it.

"This has to be seen as something that progresses soon - we need a pipeline of shovel ready projects. We've seen how Government can often be in a hurry to fund projects that are ready to go."

The bridge would be built over the western arm of the A629 roundabout, and a pedestrian and cycle path would be created from the bridge to the Leeds Liverpool Canal and Steeton and Silsden Rail Station.

The bridge will be five metres wide to comply with government guidance for designing high-quality, safe cycle infrastructure.

Over 1,100 people responded to a survey on the bridge plan late last year. 94 per cent of respondents say current facilities for cycling and walking between Steeton and Silsden were ‘poor’ or ‘very poor.' 74 per cent of respondents said they would walk and 56 per cent would cycle between Steeton and Silsden more frequently if facilities were improved.