Object

Representation ID: 29798

Received: 23/03/2021

Respondent: Ilkley Civic Society

INFRASTRUCTURE (summarised)
•Few additional jobs planned for Ilkley. New residents will have to travel for employment. The A65 is already at capacity. Trains have been at capacity prior to the pandemic. Longer trains and infrastructure improvements will be required as passenger demand develops.
•Housing should be built close to employment to reduce commuting. To afford an average-priced house in Ilkley requires substantial savings/equity/ability to pay a mortgage. Many people will have to commute to a job that pays well enough.
•Most schools are at capacity. Those people with more than one child often have to go different schools. This is the largest cause of congestion at school time –with people who have no choice but to use a car to get their children to school on time.
•Ilkley Grammar is the only state secondary in the valley between Addingham and Menston. Recent rebuilding of the school has maximised its capacity.
•Provision should be made for a new school site for all the additional children from the proposed 1306 houses in Wharfedale. This could be in the Burley/Menston area.
•Health services are already under severe pressure.
•Existing issues of raw sewerage entering the River Wharfe from the Ilkley treatment centre in wet weather when storm drains area at full capacity. Activity which exacerbates this situation should be avoided.
•Sewerage system needs increased capacity and better processing arrangements before additional homes are built.
•A65 is the only through road in this part of Wharfedale. Increases in population will increase road traffic. Car journeys will be necessary for employment/shopping/schools/health/leisure. People are unlikely to cycle on main roads in winter. If the Greenway cycle route is not the most direct, people are unlikely to use if for daily journeys.
•Wheatley Lane under the railway bridge is a bottleneck. IL1/H&IL3/H will cause substantial increases in traffic which is undesirable. The installation of traffic signals has increased the speed of traffic raising the risk to children crossing.
•There needs to be planned improvements to public transport. More ‘through’ trains to beyond Leeds/Bradford. The new plans for Bradford Interchange do not improve connections for rail users of Forster Square station.
•The trams proposal does not come near to Ilkley.
•Bus services need redesigning to give people direct access to the suburbs of Leeds/Bradford for work/study/leisure without having to change in the city centre.
•People from Ilkley need direct services to Bradford, Airedale Hospital, St James’ Hospital Leeds, BRI, Trinity and All Saints University, Leeds Beckett University.