Challenging time faces Silsden

Past and present town councillors in Silsden have spoken of the challenges facing the town due to housing growth.

They have highlighted the infrastructure needs of Silsden’s existing 8,000-plus residents along with additional pressures that will come from up to 1,200 new households.

They have raised questions about the proposed new ‘enabling road’ to a potential housing estate, as well as demanding a proper assessment of how Silsden might benefit from a bypass.

Cllr Mark Wogden, who currently serves on Silsden Town Council, described Bradford Council’s commitment to look into a possible bypass as an “interesting development”.

He said: “The scope and purpose of the study need to be clearly defined. Is it a pure bypass designed to separate the through traffic from local traffic?

“If so this would not need to also serve new housing development in this locality. Rather it would be designed to improve the environment within Silsden and would need to be publicly funded.

“If it were to serve new housing development then it would be designed and funded accordingly.”

Cllr Wogden said that in previous years it was anticipated that developers would fund the construction of a bypass.

He added: “A government inspector at the time even stipulated that no further major development should take place until a bypass was constructed. This principle has already been eroded.”

Cllr Wogden said traffic was already a major issue across Silsden, and once the new Silsden Primary School was built there would be many more vehicles in surrounding streets.

He said, “Silsden Town Council is currently seeking quotations for its own traffic survey in the light of many complaints concerning road safety and pollution in the Bolton Road area.”

Cllr Wogden cited other problems likely to worsen with the building of hundreds of new houses, such as increased flooding and pressure on drainage systems.

He said: “It would certainly be useful if the experts in the local authority and national agencies could provide a meaningful and co-ordinated assessment of these issues. Future planning decisions can then at least be taken on a more informed basis.

“Keighley MP John Grogan and others have already made it clear that an overall plan is required for Silsden, and that no further housing development should take place until this is completed.

“The actions and words of local people have shown a united concern about the potential fallout in terms of the local environment as well as the character of the community.

“No-one seems to be in charge of the process. I think the current message to Bradford Council is ‘go back and do your homework properly’. Then we can discuss things sensibly.”

Cllr Wogden said the emerging Neighbourhood Plan – spearheaded by town councillors – would provide an essential reference point for future development.

Cllr Wogden called for clarity on who the hundreds of houses being built in Silsden were aimed at.

He said: “Government policy relies almost entirely on private developers constructing housing. The trouble with this model is that even ‘affordable’ houses in the four-bedroomed des-res estates will not actually be affordable for most people.

“There has been a failure to develop brownfield sites as a result of this commercial model, with the subsequent sacrifice of green fields.

“An opportunity exists for Silsden to be proactive in challenging this process, perhaps by initiating community-led housing projects. This could provide an agreed level of new houses, but also serve the actual needs of people.

“We need to do more than simply provide a product to serve the diaspora of the relatively well-off.”

Also concerned about infrastructure in Silsden is town councillor Michael Elsmore, who represented Silsden Town Council in 2003/4 at the public inquiry into Bradford’s Unitary Development Plan (UDP), which now guides house building across the district.

Mr Elsmore drew on this experience when he recently wrote to Bradford Council objecting to the planning application to build an ‘enabling road’ from busy Bolton Road to fields around Hawber Cote, to serve a potential massive housing estate.

He pointed out that following the public enquiry more than a decade ago, the government inspector reported that Silsden was not suitable for further development due to its lack of infrastructure.

Mr Elsmore said:

“Since then there has been no improvement to Silsden’s infrastructure, despite the significant house building.

“The doctor’s surgery and dental surgery are oversubscribed. There are no banks in the town, the public toilets have been closed, parking in the centre is difficult.

“Traffic through the town has increased considerably, and despite many requests traffic lights have not been sited at Clog Bridge/Elliott Street corner.

“Access to the railway station has not improved. Following last week’s report that the proposed bridge is now further delayed, any more house building should be deferred until it is built.

“Further development would only increase the pressure on these services and roads.”

Another Silsden resident, Cllr David Loud, is greatly concerned about the scale of local housebuilding, and since being recently co-opted to the town council has had several discussions and meetings regarding development and planning.

Cllr Loud raised several questions at the recent public meeting about the enabling road plan but felt the answers from Bradford Council officers were contradictory and misleading.

At the meeting, he put forward an alternative access road that would follow the existing building line to the north of Silsden.

Raising concerns about the local road network, Cllr Loud cited the UDP’s criticism of infrastructure around Silsden more than a decade ago, particularly problems at the junction of Howden Road, Clog Bridge and Kirkgate.

Writing to the Keighley News this week, he said traffic would be forced to use this congested junction when leaving the new Silsden Primary School, which is due to be built next year.

He said: “In my opinion, this will have a significant impact on a junction already identified as being unsatisfactory.

“To expect this exit junction to take an additional 300-plus vehicles in a relatively short space of time will cause misery to the residents of Silsden twice a day during school term time.”

Cllr Loud said the UDP had detailed several sites for housing development around Silsden, including those currently being used by Barratt on Belton Road and Skipton Properties at Townhead, as well as land to be served by the enabling road.

But he claimed that according to the UDP, development of all three sites should have been accompanied by the development and construction of an eastern bypass.

Cllr Loud said: “If the infrastructure is linked to development, that infrastructure must run in tandem. The piecemeal approach of development across the Craven ward is allowing developers to avoid the commitments needed for larger-scale infrastructure to support the area.”

Cllr Loud accepted that Bradford Council was reviewing its housing targets, but he believed they would remain high across the district. He added: “Developers will always favour the sites that provide them with the highest return.

“It is therefore unrealistic to expect the safeguarded sites in and around the Craven ward to remain undeveloped in the short to medium term, and in favour of sites that have less ‘potential’ for higher returns.

“Developers can build properties that will demand a higher sale price in the outer-lying districts – and therefore these areas will be their first choice.

Cllr Loud raised concerns about various aspects of infrastructure and services in and around Silsden, including the lack of a direct bus service to Skipton, and delays in assessing the feasibility of a footbridge over the Aire Valley Road.

He called for the recent upgrade to the canal towpath between Riddlesden and Silsden to be extended to Bradley to provide a suitable route for cyclists from Skipton to Leeds.

He added:

“Addingham, Silsden, Steeton, Eastburn and Cross Hills are closely linked. We have major delays in traffic along all major routes at key times of the day.

“Housing development continues to happen on small to medium scale sites which is limiting the choices for more major infrastructure improvements. Existing road layouts haven’t been re-prioritised to reflect the journeys that are now made.

“A comprehensive and detailed traffic review is required. The whole area is crying out for a more widespread development plan.”

“I am convinced that with a coordinated approach, we can turn the situation around and I will do everything I can as a town councillor to press for the support and change that is needed.”