Councillors asked to approve additional £1.25m of investment to support active travel in Castleford

​Members of Wakefield’s Cabinet, meeting on Tuesday, November 7, will be asked to accept additional funding from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), to support active travel in the town.

It will create a new bridge that will provide a safer way to travel for pedestrians and cyclists around the Wheldon Road development of the Castleford Growth Corridor project.

Coun Matthew Morley, Wakefield Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Highways, said: “We are at the next stage in planning for a new bridge in the town. It will help bring many benefits including increasing opportunities for people to walk and cycle.

“Having these opportunities available will help improve people’s health and wellbeing as well as reducing traffic and congestion on our roads.

“If we accept this investment, it will also support our ambitions to reduce carbon emissions throughout the district.”

Councillors will be asked to accept an additional £577,473 from the City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) for the development of Wheldon Road Bridge. As well as an additional £681,000 from the West Yorkshire Plus Transport Fund.

Other funding, agreed earlier for the development of Castleford Growth Corridor, brings the total project funding to £3.71m.

The Castleford Growth Corridor will also support other improvements being made by regeneration from the Towns Fund Settlement. The proposed cycle/footbridge is the missing piece of infrastructure to join up the Aire River Growth Corridor along Wheldon Road.

The investment also supports improvements for bus services to help to make journey times more reliable along with access to bus stops and improved road crossings.