Council deny housing development impacted the decision to axe ‘ambitious’ and ‘transformational’ Cooper Bridge road plan

Mirfield councillor, Martyn Bolt, has queried how genuine the council’s plans were for a £69m Cooper Bridge bypass in 2018 as a housing application dating back to 2016 has been brought to light which would suggest otherwise.

In 2018 “ambitious and transformational” plans for the roundabout were revealed by Kirklees Council, impacting the Cooper Bridge area including land off Bradley Road in Huddersfield.

The plans, which have now been scrapped, were championed by officers as the solution to 20 years of congestion in the area and were projected to be completed this year.

However, such plans came two years after a housing development was approved that would see nine houses built on the same land proposed for a new link road. The housing development, which is now under construction, will see nine “luxury” four and five bedroom homes built on land behind the White Cross Inn on Bradley Road.

Each of the proposals put to the public during consultation stages would have seen the addition of a road across this land but failed to acknowledge the building of new homes.

Kirklees Council denied the claim that the housing development impacted their decision to drop the bypass plans. Coun Bolt described this as a “strange stance,” as by the council’s plans, “somebody’s brand new house has got a link road going through it.”

The scheme proposed a new route beginning at Colne Bridge Road and would have created a new relief road and viaduct for the area. This would have crossed Bradley road to a new roundabout near Bradley Park landfill site and join A644 Wakefield Road by means of a 450m long viaduct traversing the railways, the Calder and Hebble Canal, and the River Calder.

This was designed to reduce traffic on A62 Leeds Road and A644 Wakefield Road serving Huddersfield and Brighouse, cut travel times and improve air quality.

The designs saw the need for the demolition of several homes and buying up of “virgin land” with 50 landowners contacted.

In 2018, the public was presented with three options during consultation stages. This ended in January 2019 and was followed by a u-turn from the council in 2021 when all options were deemed unviable. The council have put this down to the negative environmental impact and high costs.

The original multi-million pound plans were then replaced by a more modest A62 to Cooper Bridge Corridor Improvement Scheme which is being delivered in partnership between Kirklees Council, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Calderdale Council.

Councillor Eric Firth, cabinet member for transport, said: “A transport scheme of the size and significance of that at Cooper Bridge goes through numerous rigorous design, feasibility, costing and impact assessments. This is to make sure that any scheme proposed will have maximum benefits for residents and businesses as well as minimal impact on the environment and offering value for money.

"As a result of this careful consideration there have been around 30 options looked at for the Cooper Bridge project – several of these included a link road. The link road options were all discounted due to the negative impact on the environment and high financial cost.

“We are currently developing a full business case for our preferred option and are on track to start construction on this transformative project in 2024.”

The council’s preferred option for the corridor improvement scheme would see the creation of a new three armed roundabout at Cooper Bridge junction with dedicated left turn links.

Several roads would be widened including the A62 Leeds Road between Bradley Junction and Oak Road, Colne Bridge Road on the approach to Bradley junction, and the A644 Wakefield Road on the approach to M62 junction 25.

Improvements would also be made to signal timings and pedestrian and cycle facilities, and changes made to lane markings and permitted movements.

Despite a number of transport schemes being “paused” by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority in November last year, the Cooper Bridge Corridor Improvement Scheme still has to go-ahead.