A village group is the driving force behind a campaign to improve provision for cyclists and pedestrians in Bingley.

Crossflatts Village Society is calling for cycle lanes and wider pavements through the town after the completion of the relief road.

"It will be an excellent opportunity to provide greener ways to travel through Bingley once the relief road opens," said society chairman Quentin Deakin, pictured.

"The new road should take a lot of the traffic away from the heart of the town and improved facilities will encourage more people to get on their bikes or walk.

"We all hope that the present A650 will be freed up for safe use but this will only happen if Bradford Council plans ahead now."

However, Eileen Sinclair, a former member of the Bingley Road Safety Comm-ittee which folded last year because of a lack of members, said the scheme could be a waste of money.

"The sensible thing is to wait and see what effect the relief road will have on traffic in the town before anything is done," said Mrs Sinclair.

"Parts of the A650 are too narrow for cycle lanes, but we are all hoping the new road will remove traffic from the town leaving us with domestic traffic.

"This will hopefully mean it will be safer for cyclists and pedestrians anyway."

The two-mile relief road, which stretches from Cross-flatts roundabout to the Ramada Jarvis Bankfield Hotel in Cottingley, is due to open in the autumn.

The aim of the £47.9 million project is to take 60 per cent of the traffic out of the congested town centre.

A Bradford Council spokesman said the A650 was the Highways Agency's responsibility but would be de-trunked once the relief road opened.

"Only then could we possibly consider any plans for cycle routes or other schemes," he said.

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said it would be the Council's decision once the road became its responsibility.

"Conditions should improve because of the reduced volumes of traffic," he said.

"Any plans for cycle lanes or other provisions would be down to the Council.