Article found in the Calderdale Council website

People living in an area of Halifax are being asked for their views on how to make their streets greener, healthier and more attractive.

The £1 million project, which is being delivered by Calderdale Council in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority is part of a “Streets for People” programme aimed at creating safe, healthy and more inclusive places where people choose to walk, cycle and use public transport.

This project will focus on Park ward, with Illingworth, Ovenden, Mixenden, Lee Mount and Pellon set to benefit from wider improvements.

These areas have been identified because they are seeing traffic congestion at peak times, pockets of poor air quality and fewer walking and cycling facilities.

Residents will receive a letter asking them to take part in an online survey to help shape the improvements.

The survey runs from Monday 14 September until Friday 16 October 2020 and will be available at www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/calderdale-sfp(external link)

Cllr Jane Scullion, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Strategy, said:

“Making sustainable travel choices is so important for our health and the environment. We want our communities to be places that look good and help us to feel good – places where we want to spend more time and which help us achieve our best.

“Our work in Park ward and North Halifax will help us to understand how we can improve walking and cycling facilities and boost access to public transport. This is a key part of our priorities to make Calderdale the most active borough in the North by 2024 and to tackle climate change.

“We want local people to shape these improvements, so we encourage them to complete the survey to let us know their thoughts.”

Cllr Kim Groves, Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee, said:

“We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Calderdale Council on this exciting project, which demonstrates how we are putting local people at the heart of our work.

“Our Streets for People projects, of which this is one, will help make walking, cycling and public transport the natural choice for short, everyday journeys, helping to reduce air pollution, and increase road safety and physical activity.

“We want to create welcoming, safer, quieter and attractive places where people want to spend more time.  It goes without saying that nobody is better placed than local people to tell us how we can do that.”

Calderdale Council and the Combined Authority are working in partnership to make wider improvements as part of Leeds City Region’s £317 million Transforming Cities Fund – a major new programme of transport infrastructure investment announced as part of the West Yorkshire devolution deal earlier this year.

The Leeds City Region Transforming Cities Fund Programme aims to provide around 627,000 people in the most deprived 20% areas in the country with better access to employment and skills opportunities. Through investment in high-quality, sustainable transport infrastructure, the programme aims to enable inclusive growth, boost productivity, support clean growth and create a modern transport system.