Issue - meetings

The Committee will consider the objections received for TRO No 1 2025 Lockwood Road Huddersfield Proposed Banned Turning Movements, Lockwood Bar.

Contact:

Ayoob Akhtar, Principal Engineer

Muhammad Qadri, Project Manager

That the objections to the proposed Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) No 1 2025 Lockwood Road, Huddersfield be overruled and that the Order be implemented as advertised.

The Committee considered the objections received to the proposed Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) No 1 2025, Lockwood Road, Huddersfield which included banning turning movements between Lockwood Road and Bridge Street, except for buses and cycles.

The report was presented by Muhammad Qadri, Project Manager who advised the Committee that the proposed Traffic Regulation Order was critical to the successful delivery of the Lockwood Bar junction improvement scheme, which formed a key part of the wider Huddersfield Southern Corridor project.

It was noted that allowing vehicles, other than buses and cycles, to use the proposed junctions would reduce the effectiveness of the scheme, which aimed to reduce congestion and improve journey times between the south of Kirklees and Huddersfield Town Centre along the A616 corridor. The scheme also aimed to provide active travel facilities to support a longer-term vision of a more cycle-friendly Kirklees.

Several months after awarding the construction contract and before any changes to the junction could be constructed, the previously advertised Traffic Regulation Orders TROs expired.

The original TROs were re-advertised at the start of 2025, with no changes since they were first advertised in 2022, and no objections were received at that time.  The new Traffic Regulation Orders for the whole scheme were advertised between the 5 March and 2 April 2025 and 4 objections were received.

The Committee were advised that the objections were concerning 5 key areas which were consultation, fairness, passenger impact, scheme effectiveness, and legal compliance. Officers acknowledged the concerns but maintained that statutory processes had been followed in line with legislation and exemptions were limited to avoid operational and enforcement issues.

Under the provision of Council Procedure Rule 37, the Cabinet Committee – Local Issues then received representations from Atif Mukhtar.

In the discussion to follow, the Committee confirmed that the consultation had been carried out correctly and that Hackney Carriages had been contacted with regards to the scheme as key stakeholders. The Committee also noted that the proposals were important to enable the successful delivery oft the TRO and would improve the impact of the wider schemes around Huddersfield.

Having considered all the information presented to it verbally and in writing the Committee agreed that:

That the objections to the proposed Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) No 1 2025 Lockwood Road, Huddersfield be overruled and that the Order be implemented as advertised.