VILLAGERS in Addingham may soon be able to take advantage of new bus links to Airedale General Hospital at Steeton, near Keighley as well as Steeton and Silsden railway station.

A spokesman for Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, said it had been allocated £550,000, a year for the next three years from the Government's Rural bus initiative.

Part of the money may be spent on plans to provide Addingham with better public transport.

The news will be welcomed by Addingham parish councillors who want to contact Metro officials to plead for village hopper buses.

A spokesman for Wharfedale and Airedale line rail operators Northern Spirit said the numbers of people wanting to travel by train was increasing significantly in West Yorkshire as a whole.

But Helen Kidman, chairman of the Wharfedale Rail Users' Group, said that increased train use had led to parking problems at Ilkley and Ben Rhydding stations.

Other transport projects in rural Wharfedale have also received a major boost as part of a total package of £1 million Government grants for the Yorkshire Dales in the new year.

Chairman of the National Park Authority, Councillor Robert Heseltine, said: "This additional resource from the Government is yet further confirmation and vindication of the progressive policies we have been confidently promoting through the 1990s."

The main element of the funding is for rural transport along the 'Wharfedale corridor' - something which the park authority has been working towards for six years, said Mr Heseltine.

The authority has received £300,000 for the package of schemes and will liaise closely with the Duke of Devonshire's Bolton Abbey estate, the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway Company and other transport providers.

New projects could include improved bus services from Skipton and Ilkley to Upper Wharfedale and Malham, plus traffic management measures around Bolton Abbey.

The money will pay for improved facilities such as shelters and information boards at bus stops, the management of grass verges, street parking and traffic calming measures.

It is hoped that if the Wharfedale corridor schemes are successful, the park may be able to secure funding to extend them throughout the Yorkshire Dales.

Andy Ryland, the national park's transport and visitor management officer, said that all schemes would be worked out

in consultation with local

residents.

He said: "We will be able to make improvements for pedestrians, families, cyclists, public transport users, national park residents and visitors.

"The measures will make it easier for everyone to enjoy the national park, including people with a disability or who are without their own transport."

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