Traffic At Chidswell – Some initial insights.

The Chidswell development is made up of the following:

Site A – Heybeck Lane, consisting of 181 houses and

Site B -1354 houses along with 122,500m2 of industrial development. 

Figures taken from the traffic assessments suggest this development alone will increase the local traffic by at least an additional 22,836 trips per day, this is in addition to our already busy road network.

Our road networks are already congested at peak times, as a commuter to Bradford myself,  I am accustomed to queuing to get to the M62 most mornings, with standing traffic trailing back to the babes in the woods junction and vice versa queuing to get home sometimes all the way back onto the motorway.

Congestion arises when the roadway systems approaches vehicle capacity resulting in numerous negative impacts ranging from wasted fuels and the impact of excessive air pollutant emissions.

The traffic survey shows  8 out of the 15 junctions tested are either over capacity already or will be with background growth and the developments. The additional traffic this development alone will bring is hard to quantify on this scale. However ,there are also other builds in addition to this development 260 houses to be built off Owl lane, 366 houses at Soothill, 290 houses at West Ardsley thats just short of 2500 houses . The pollution and traffic issues this will bring to our local communities, neighbouring villages/ towns is horrifying!

Pollutants come from a range of sources, but transport is known to be the single largest source of Nitrogen oxides omissions, in addition to this the average car emits between 120.1-141.9 grams of Co2 per kilometre travelled. This development will release an additional three tons of Co2 per day along with a vast range of other pollutants.

Poor Air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK. Long term exposure can cause health issues such as, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Short term exposure can have a range of health impacts such as lung function, asthma, increases in respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions and increased mortality and morbidity rates.

Pollution also has a direct devastating affect on out plants and wildlife also destroying their health and habitats. In addition to affecting individual animals or populations directly, air pollutants also affect wildlife indirectly by causing changes in ecosystems. Vegetation gives cover for protection from predators and weather, provides breeding and nesting habitats and also serves as a food source. Any changes in this vegetation could then indirectly affect wildlife populations.

We need your help and support to to stop this and protect our local community, our children, wildlife and our green lungs not only now but also for our future generations.


Approximately 70% of people are expected to travel by car/van, 8% of people travel as a passenger in a car /van. The total daily residential trip rates expected from from this development between the hours of 7am and 7pm is 13,010 trips! 

The industrial development will also have a huge impact on the traffic in the local area. Although employees once at work tend to stay there, they will contribute to peak traffic impact along with deliveries coming and going during the day. According to the report this will see an additional 9836 trips between the hours of 7am and 7pm.

Thats a minimum total of 22,846 traffic trips every day in and around the community!

Each car on average produces between 120.1- 141.9 grams of Co2 per kilometre driven which is around three tons of additional CO2 been put into our communities air on a daily basis.

The concerns of the CAG and the community are:

The impact of the additional traffic in and around the local area

Congestion on the already busy road networks

Road safety

Impact of the communities health due to pollution during the build and on going pollution of additional residential and industrial traffic once the build is complete 

The impact this additional pollution will have on the two ancient woods, Dum wood and Dogloitch wood

The plans show the site will have five access points, 14 junctions in and around the area were tested for their capacity. The Church Commissioners (the owners of the land) instructed Pell Frishmann to undertake this work. A summary of the finding are below.

Access 1 Heybeck lane, this will serve the proposed 181 houses

The Junctions  that are attached to this access is Junction 3 – A signalled junction on Leeds Road/Heybeck Lane/Soothill and Junction 14A new access junction that will be created to serve the 181 houses.

Junction 3 – Soothill part of the Junction is already over capacity in the peak AM hours, once the development is complete the junction will be over capacity

Junction 14 – Because this is a new junction, it is deemed within capacity. Heybeck lane is a very fast flowing busy road, this does not appear to have been taken into consideration.

Access 2 – This access will be a newly created access off the main Leeds Road A653 and will serve the industrial side of the development, this will be a signalled junction. The report advises that this will run within capacity but it is expected to have some additional queuing across the two lanes.

Access 3 – This will also be a newly created access again off the main Leeds Road A653 and will provide the main spine road running through the housing development, though the new Barrett estate down to Owl Lane. This will also be a signalled junction, now providing two additional sets of traffic lights on the busy Leeds road A653. This is deemed within capacity with some queuing across two lanes. However, there seems to be very little supportive information on the cumulative traffic queuing impact when taking access 1, 2 and 3 together with new signals junctions?

Access 4 – This will be a newly created access two he residential areas of the new development. This will be created on the main residential side of Chidswell Lane and is created to serve part of the bottom part of the residential development. Because this a new access area it is deemed it meets acceptable capacity and any delays would encourage users to divert to using access points 2,3 and 5 instead. What this does not appear to address is the possibility of this access point been used as a rat run through the new development. 

Access 5 – Will be a newly created access via the very busy Owl lane, creating a four arm roundabout with an access spine road running through the Barrett development to the proposed Chidswell development. Barretts plans for this layout of this access point are currently different to what the Church Commissioners would prefer, discussions are ongoing and it appears no further information is available at this time to show if the roundabout will meet required testing.

Summary of the Junctions tested when developments completed

Junction 1 – M1 Junction 40 the report deems the junction is approaching capacity, however, the proposed development should have little or no affect on this junction.

Junction 2 – M62 junction 28 junction is already slightly over capacity at peak PM times suggests that the junction could have capacity to withstand the development. However, in another report when looking at all the proposed developments in and around the area including the proposed Capitol Park industrial development; it states the junction will need a huge amount of work to be undertaken, work that would not be within an acceptable scope for developers to contribute?

Junction 3 – Leeds road/Soothill/Heybeck Lane – Over capacity with increased queuing

Junction 4 – Leeds Road/ Chidswell lane (Jet garage ) – Will cause substantial delays and exceeds its capacity and will not operate satisfactorily over the longer term. 

Junction 5 – Leeds Road/Challenge Way/John Ormsby VC Way – Over capacity. This junction is under discussion for improvements, if agreed a report will be done on its capacity.

Junction 5B – Leeds Road/High St – runs within capacity

Junction 6 – Windsor Road/Owl Lane – Over Capacity

Junction 7 – Chancery Road/Owl Lane/Leeds Road/ Wakefield road  roundabout at the end of Ossett bypass- Over Capacity on three out of the four arms of the roundabout.

Junction 8 – Chidswell Lane/Windsor road – within capacity,  Chidswell Lane will be stopped up to prevent a through road.

Junction 9 – Leeds Road A653/Owl Lane – An existing signalled junction, this junction will run over capacity having an impact on surrounding junctions.

Junction 10 – John Ormsby VC Way/Owl Lane – roundabout – Over Capacity

Junction 11 – Dewsbury Road A653/ Rein Road/Syke Road – Signalled Junction – Over capacity

Junction 12 – Owl Lane/Dewsbury Rams – A new roundabout is to be created as part of the new Barrett development junction and may run to full capacity, however the design of the roundabout has yet to be agreed.

Junction 13 – Owl lane/Amblewood Chase – Already raised with possible safety issues as traffic try to force into small gaps in the traffic, delays will possibly become unacceptable to the residents due to the difficulties turning right. The only alternative is for residents to turn left to the roundabout and u-turn for their right direction.

In the report for Junction 12 it is unclear if this scenario is accounted for in their modelling report?

Junction 14 – New Junction on Heybeck lane – deemed to be within capacity – No consideration at how busy or fast this road is.

Junction 15 – A new access junction on the residential side of Chidswell Lane, report suggests there could be minimal delays and residents would be more likely to use alternative exit routes. The report does not address the issue this may become a rat run.

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