Key details
Project to make it easier for people of all ages to walk, cycle, rest and play in the streets around Skircoat.
Funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Active Travel England.
Current status
Plans
The aim of the Your street matters programme is to find ways we can improve access to walking and cycling in Calderdale, and to create places where people want to spend time. The first area of focus is Skircoat.
Benefits
Walking and cycling
We want to make walking and cycling pleasant, safe, and an obvious choice.
Streets for everyone
We want to make streets that work for everyone, not just people in vehicles.
Health
We want our communities to benefit from better health.
Reduced congestion
We’re aiming to improve traffic for all road users.
Pleasant spaces
We want to make the experience of walking, cycling, and spending time in the streets around Skircoat better.
Design
We’ve designed proposals to make walking, wheeling and cycling around Skircoat more pleasant, safe and convenient.
The proposals include:
Savile Park
- Widening of paths to 2m,
- New benches,
- Solar lighting to improve visibility, and
- A new shared-use footway/cycleway connecting Savile Park to Manor Heath Park.
- New pedestrian and cycle crossings at key locations around Savile Park at Skircoat Moor Road, Free School Lane and Savile Park Road.
Manor Heath Park
- New pedestrian and cycle zebra crossings on Skircoat Green Road.
New Lane
- Closure of New Lane to through traffic, to create a safe and more enjoyable route for walking, wheeling and cycling,
- A new footway connecting Birdcage Lane from New Lane will make the route safer and more accessible.
Stafford Road
- Making the closure for through traffic from Stafford Road to Huddersfield Road permanent,
- Landscaping and planting.
School Street
A School Street on Stafford Square to temporarily restrict vehicles at school pick-up and drop-off times (exemptions will apply).
Conversations with the community
We’ve been listening to what the community have to say about how to make travelling around Skircoat easier.
2022 engagement
In 2022, 215 people responded to our Commonplace engagement. People told us:
- Cars account for 40% of journeys in Skircoat.
- Walking accounts for 33% of journeys in Skircoat.
- 1 in 6 did not feel comfortable walking in Skircoat.
- 88% thought it was important that Skircoat had high-quality walking routes.
- 60% thought it was important that Skircoat had high-quality cycling routes.
- Commonly reported issues included:
- Maintenance of the roads
- Speeding vehicles
- Feeling unsafe
2024
In 2024, we shared proposals and invited people to offer their feedback. 270 people attended one of the four consultation events, and 248 provided survey responses.
Nearly 1 in 4 feel unsafe when walking, cycling or wheeling in Skircoat.
| Response | |
| Unsafe | 57% |
| Neither safe nor unsafe | 20% |
| Safe | 23% |
Half feel that walking, wheeling, and cycling routes are “good”.
| Response | |
| Good | 50% |
| Neither good nor poor | 24% |
| Poor | 20% |
Support for the 13 proposals varied from 40% to 59%:
| Support | Neither support or oppose or don’t know | Oppose | |
| Copley Bridge (1) | 53% | 15% | 32% |
| Copley Lane (2) | 53% | 19% | 28% |
| New Lane (3) | 49% | 26% | 25% |
| Birdcage Lane (4) | 53% | 27% | 20% |
| Skircoat Moor Road (5) | 58% | 26% | 16% |
| Free School Lane (6) | 53% | 30% | 17% |
| Savile Park Road (7) | 52% | 32% | 16% |
| Savile Park (8) | 47% | 26% | 27% |
| Skircoat Green Road (9) | 51% | 27% | 22% |
| Stafford Road (10) | 40% | 36% | 24% |
| Stafford Square (11) | 42% | 44% | 12% |
| Haugh Shaw Road (12) | 59% | 37% | 4% |
| Swires Road (13) | 45% | 55% | 0% |
The most common priorities for investment people wanted to see in Skircoat were:
- Widening of pavements/new dropped kerbs/improvements to pavements.
- More crossings and improvements to existing crossings.
- Parking issues rectified.
- Proposed speed reduction to 20mph.
- Improvements to signing, more mirrors on bends and improved visibility.
Respondents identified priorities for future interventions in Skircoat:
- Reducing road traffic and congestion (17%).
- Improving links to walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure (13%).
- Providing transport that is accessible for everyone (8%).
- Improving connections to/from businesses, leisure facilities and amenities (7%).
- Improving access to employment or education (7%).
- Contributing to reducing carbon emissions (6%).
- Improving connections to/from residential areas (6%).
- Improving connections to bus and train services (6%).
- Providing quicker journey times (6%).
- Providing evening and night-time bus services (5%).
- Providing affordable public transport for passengers (5%).
- Providing frequent bus services (5%).
Progress
17 June 2025
This page updated with proposed designs for Skircoat.
12 June 2025
Moving around should soon be more pleasant, safe and convenient, as final proposals are agreed to improve streets around Skircoat.
24 February 2025
This page updated with an overview of responses from the 2024 engagement event and survey.
17 October 2024
Have your say on improvements to streets in Skircoat.
15 October 2024
Calderdale Council has been awarded £2.4m of funding from Active Travel England and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to further develop and deliver proposals for positive changes and to help create streets that work for everyone. We have identified 13 locations for improvements.
We seek further feedback to help us shape and refine the proposals. Please take some time to attend an engagement event, or review the proposals, and complete the Skircoat your street matters survey.
29 June 2022
We want to start a discussion about how we can improve streets where you live, work, or travel. This time we are focussing on Skircoat in Halifax.
We have secured funding from UK Government to prepare a study identifying how streets could be improved and we want your input to make that study a success. Tell us how can we improve streets in Skircoat?
Funding
Approximate scheme value: £2.40M.
This project was made possible through funding from:
