I’d like to say a few more words about the pedestrian improvements due to take place around the junction of the Station Hotel. Many of you will have heard that the proposal to change Victoria Road into a one-way street will not be going ahead – though I’m pleased we will be seeing the pedestrianisation of the remaining three arms of the junction around the Station Hotel. This is good news for local people. After listening to residents’ feedback, we asked the council’s highways team to scrap the one-way scheme, as there were a number of concerns locally, but a few people have asked why so much time was spent on those proposals. Making Victoria Road one-way would have allowed us to place a crossing across the A65 at the Station Hotel, as a result of removing one of the turn options, creating more capacity at this busy junction and allowing for extra phasing into the traffic lights.

The one-way aspect isn’t moving forward, as we know, but improvements on the A65 are still on their way. This will involve moving the planned pedestrian refuge island on the A65 to a slightly different location, which may not be as convenient as the previous proposals, but will still be a huge improvement over the current state of affairs. There will also be a crossing on Oxford Road.

We also want to see a crossing on Victoria Road at some point in the future. It will be important to ensure that we carefully gauge the impact on parking spaces, but there would be an opportunity for full consultation on such proposals to allow local people to have a say.

It’s been a difficult period, but we are making progress on making much-needed pedestrian improvements around this busy junction. At all times we want to ensure that we balance the need for safety improvements with the impact on traffic flow and local opinion. We will continue to move forward bearing all those factors in mind and I look forward to seeing improvements in the next few months.

Councillor Paul Wadsworth

Guiseley and Rawdon Ward