A PROPOSED footbridge linking Steeton with Silsden “remains very much a priority” – councillors have been told.

Plans for a bridge over the A629 date back years, and most recently the bridge and infrastructure to link it with the two villages was budgeted at around £9m.

With little in the way of updates on the project, one Craven councillor raised the issue at a meeting of Bradford Council this week.

Councillor Caroline Whitaker (Green, Craven) asked: “Can the portfolio holder please reassure residents in Steeton and Silsden that the long-awaited construction of the bridge over the A629 between Silsden and Steeton is still going ahead as planned?”

  The response from the Council Executive said: “This project remains very much a priority for us.

“The Steeton and Silsden crossing project was granted a small amount of initial funding in 2017 to develop an Outline Business Case and it was only last year when full funding was granted by the government as part of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement programme which is administered by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.”

It said policy changes meant the business case had to be revisited to “consider active travel access to and from any crossing.”

The response added; “The project remains on track for completion within the programme timescales of 2027.”