Multi-million pound plans for a park and ride scheme and cycle way will be scaled back due to rising costs of two other infrastructure projects.

The Transforming Cities Fund will see tens of millions spent on projects ranging from the pedestrianisation of Hall Ings to the creation of a new park and ride.

Work on the schemes is due to begin before the end of the year, but a new report has revealed that two of the four projects will be scaled back until new funding streams become available.

The four schemes that make up the Transforming Cities Fund are:

  • the Bradford City Centre Walking and Cycling improvements, which includes the pedestrianisation of Hall Ings and streets like Market Street,
  • the South Bradford Park and Ride and Expressway,
  • the creation of a new entrance to Bradford Interchange and
  • the West Bradford Cycle Superhighway – a segregated cycleway between the city centre and Thornton.

At a meeting of Bradford Council’s Executive next Tuesday members will hear that spiralling costs for the scheme mean that big changes will be made to the park and ride and cycle superhighway projects.

The Transforming Cities Fund was a multi-million-pound pot of cash given by Government to West Yorkshire as part of the local devolution deal.

Bradford will get an £80m share of the funding for the four schemes.

An update on the projects published prior to the meeting reveals that a mix of rising costs of materials, inflation and the impact of Brexit has led to rising costs of the schemes.

Section of Little Horton Lane to be closed to traffic in major city scheme

The report says the City Centre Cycling and Walking Proposals, originally funded to the tune of £30m, will now end up costing at least £38.1m.

Despite this, the Executive will be told the scheme should be funded in full, and that reducing the scope of the project would “lead to significantly lower benefits to the City Centre area and is seen as unfeasible given the City of Culture award and stakeholder feedback.”

The work will see the pedestrianisation of Hall Ings from Jacobs Well to Bank Street, Bridge Street from Drake Street to Tyrel Street/Aldermanbury, plus Market Street, Bank Street and Broadway.

Norfolk Gardens park will be extended and Jacob’s Well roundabout removed.

The Interchange improvements, which include the demolition of the Hall Ings car park and a huge refurbishment of the station, were budgeted to cost £13.2m. The report reveals this has now risen to £16.4m.

Despite this, this scheme will also still be going ahead as planned, with the report again saying the City of Culture title would mean it was “unfeasible” to scale back these plans.

The report also reveals that “an ongoing legal issue relating to a tenancy arrangement” has delayed the design of the scheme.

Both of these projects are expected to be completed by November 2024.

Because of the overspend on these two projects, the other two Transforming Cities Fund programmes will be scaled back.

The West Bradford Cycle Superhighway was a £17.5m scheme that would see segregated cycling facilities along the Sunbridge Road, City Road and Thornton Road corridor from the city centre to Thornton Village.

However, to pay for the other two schemes, the budget for this project will be scaled back to £9.14m.

The cycle way will now only extend to the junction of Thornton Road/Cemetery Road/Allerton Road.

A second “phase” of the scheme, linking this junction to Thornton and the Great Northern Trail, will be built when new funding is available. The report says this is not likely to be before 2025.

The South Bradford Park & Ride and Bus Expressway was a £20m project that would see a huge car park created near the M606 junction. A new bus fleet would ferry passengers from this car park down Manchester Road along dedicated bus lanes. New cycle lanes would also be created on this route.

This scheme will also have its budget cut to pay for the city centre plans, with £15.3m now being allocated to the project.

Previously the site of the car park was likely to be a large field next to Odsal Stadium.

But the report going to Executive on Tuesday reveals that the planned 750 space car park, and public transport terminal building, would have been on the Richard Dunn site.

Due to the budget cut, the planned works on the Richard Dunn site will be paused, although the bus lanes and cycle lanes on Manchester Road will still be developed, with work expected to be completed by late 2024.

The report says: “The parking area will be constructed as and when future funding is available, however this may be post-2025.”

It adds the decision by Historic England to award the Richard Dunn Centre Grade II listing has delayed the design plans for the park and ride site.

The Executive meets at 10.30am on Tuesday.