Dear valued supporter,
Imagine a West Yorkshire where safe, scenic, and accessible routes for walking, cycling, and wheeling are not just a dream, but a vibrant reality. A future where active travel is not just an option, but a prioritised, integral part of our daily lives, connecting communities, boosting health, and protecting our environment.
This future is within our grasp, but it needs your voice! The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) is currently consulting on its Local Transport Plan, a crucial document that will shape transport investment and policy across our region for years to come. This is a golden opportunity for us to ensure that the Wharfedale Greenway, and active travel in general, receives the focus and funding it so desperately needs and deserves.
The consultation closes on October 21st, 2025, so time is of the essence! We’re calling on every one of our supporters to dedicate a few minutes to complete the online response and champion active travel.
Why Your Participation Matters Now More Than Ever:
The Local Transport Plan will determine where billions of pounds are invested. Without a strong, collective voice advocating for active travel, there’s a real risk that these vital, low-carbon, and health-boosting options could be overlooked in favour of other transport modes. By completing the survey, you are:
- Amplifying our Impact: Every single response adds weight to the growing movement for better active travel infrastructure.
- Supporting Dedicated Officers: Your input strengthens the hand of active travel officers within WYCA and local authorities who are fighting for these very priorities.
- Directly Advocating for the Wharfedale Greenway: This is your chance to specifically highlight the incredible potential and importance of routes like the Wharfedale Greenway.
How to Make Your Voice Heard: A Simple Guide
We know consultations can sometimes seem daunting, but we’ve made it easy for you to make a significant impact!
1. Access the Consultation: Visit the WYCA Local Transport Plan consultation page here: https://www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/hub-page/local-transport-plan
2. Choose the Summary Questionnaire: We recommend selecting the “Summary Questionnaire” option. This allows you to either provide brief answers or delve into each policy area in more detail – giving you flexibility to contribute as much as you’d like.
3. Champion Active Travel in Questions 5 to 10: For questions 5 to 10, where possible, select the “I prefer to choose…” option. This allows you to specifically endorse policies that support active travel.
- As a simple guide, you could adopt the following approach:
- Strongly Agree – if active travel is explicitly mentioned or clearly prioritised.
- Agree – if the policy links to active travel in some way, even indirectly.
- Neutral – if the policy has no direct link with active travel.
4. Supercharge Your Response with Wharfedale Greenway Comments!
This is where you can make a powerful, direct impact for our beloved Greenway! In the comments boxes, please add specific remarks supporting the Wharfedale Greenway and active travel in general. We’ve prepared some fantastic suggestions below to help you articulate your points effectively. Feel free to adapt them or use them directly:
💡 Ideas for What to Say in the Comments Box (by Question):
Q5. Integrated:
- “Active travel routes such as the Wharfedale Greenway would provide excellent links to bus and rail stations, but only if route designs are carefully integrated and explicitly prioritised over car travel in planning.”
- “Crucially, active travel routes like the Wharfedale Greenway need immediate protection through planning regulations to ensure their benefits can be fully realised and not jeopardised by future development.”
- “Planning conditions should mandate that active travel routes, such as the Wharfedale Greenway, are delivered early in any large housing scheme. This ensures new residents can immediately embrace them as a viable alternative to car use.”
Q6. Inclusive & Affordable:
- “Designing and constructing active travel routes like the Wharfedale Greenway to be truly suitable for all users – from various walking capabilities, all types of wheeling (pushchairs, wheelchairs, inline skates), to diverse cycling (adapted and dual cycles) – is essential. This inclusivity will attract more users and guarantee equal access for everyone.”
- “Investing in active travel infrastructure is a remarkably low-cost option when compared to the vast expenditures on tram, rail, and road projects, offering incredible value for public funds.”
- “Active travel provides an inherently affordable means of travel for everyone, especially empowering young people who are pre-driving age with independent mobility.”
Q7. Reliable & Resilient:
- “It’s disappointing to see only one policy directly mentioning Active Travel in this section. Providing low-cost, traffic-free alternative routes for walking, wheeling, and cycling journeys has the potential to significantly free up road space for other priorities.”
- “It is absolutely essential that active travel routes like the Wharfedale Greenway are meticulously designed and constructed to the highest quality, including all-weather surfaces. This ensures they are reliable and resilient, thereby appealing to the widest possible number of people year-round.”
Q8. Safe:
- “By providing dedicated traffic-free routes such as the Wharfedale Greenway, as clear alternatives to busy roads, we can dramatically enhance the safety of vulnerable road users, including cyclists and pedestrians, making active travel a truly attractive option.”
Q9. Active:
- “The quality of improved routes and facilities is paramount; poor quality infrastructure will simply not attract users. Adequate, ring-fenced funding must be allocated to achieve genuinely high-quality active travel provisions. We still await details on how the promised £2.1bn will be allocated, as requested at the Sep 23rd 2025 online forum.”
- “The Active Travel Strategy, referred to in A1, must be published ASAP to provide much-needed visibility of upcoming projects. An indication of early 2026 was made at the Sep 23rd 2025 online forum – let’s hold them to this!”
- “Joined-up facilities at stations are essential, but they must be provided simultaneously with safe, well-designed routes to the stations. Otherwise, these facilities may stand idle. The demonstrated demand for off-road routes like the Wharfedale Greenway is evident – see our 2023 Public Consultation results here: https://friendsofwharfedalegreenway.org.uk/public-consultation-2023/“
Q12. Please tell us about anything else you think we need to prioritise in the first five years of delivering the Local Transport Plan:
- “The £2.1bn cited to deliver 4 priorities (bus, tram, rail, walking, wheeling & cycling (WWC) infrastructure) is positive, but the 5 & 10-year aims for ‘improvements to WWC facilities’ are far too vague. There’s a significant risk they could amount to very little and fail to meet the laudable aspirations described in the brochure. Active travel aims need to be identified much more specifically – for example, target numbers of km of AT routes to be created, and the number of AT hubs to be established at key trip generation points such as rail/bus stations, schools, retail centres, and leisure facilities. Crucially, funding allocations to active travel projects must be entirely transparent.”
- “The aspiration must be that within 5 years, some active travel routes are completed in their entirety. For the Wharfedale Greenway, this means completing sections like Otley town to Burley Rail station, or Burley to Ilkley Grammar School. Significant traffic will only be generated when these routes are seen as genuine, continuous alternatives. If only short, disconnected sections are built, remote from town centres or schools, they will not attract the users who could be encouraged to switch modes. Funding to complete at least one substantial section within 5 years will provide crucial evidence of the benefits for the subsequent period and clearly demonstrate to the public the transformative opportunities for mode switching.”
Q13. If you have any comments on the Integrated Sustainability Assessment, please tell us here:
- “The conclusion in the ISA (3.3) states, ‘Despite positive sustainability contributions, none sufficiently prioritise green and blue infrastructure.’ This critical oversight could be significantly addressed by prioritising Greenways like the Wharfedale Greenway, which inherently provide biodiverse green/blue corridors perfectly suited for carbon-free travel.”
Other Crucial Points to Consider Adding:
- “The Local Transport Plan must unequivocally state that funding will be ring-fenced for Active Travel and explicitly not reallocated to, for example, mass transit schemes. This clarity is vital for public trust and project delivery.”
- “WYCA should clarify if the design of any proposed mass transit scheme would also permit a traffic-free walking, wheeling, and cycling route to be built alongside it, and provide potential timescales for doing so. Co-location offers incredible efficiencies and benefits.”
- “It’s imperative to recognise that Active Travel delivers bigger benefits, and often more quickly, compared to mass transit. Evidence supports this: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68c91625de855c02ab517b30/estimating-the-benefits-of-active-travel-investment.pdf“
Don’t let this moment pass! Your opinion matters, and together, we can ensure the West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan champions active travel and paves the way for a more connected, healthier, and greener future for our region, with the Wharfedale Greenway at its heart.
Remember the consultation closes on October 21st, 2025 so time is running out.
Thank you for your unwavering support.
The Friends of Wharfedale Greenway Team