Living Streets Shipley and Saltaire Local Group was formed in 2020 to bring together local people who want to make our town better for walking, wheeling and cycling. Since then, we’ve held regular meetings to build support, crowdsourced local people’s experiences on an online map, and set up a local Community Speedwatch. This year, we won grant funding from Shipley Town Council and the Bradford Shipley Travel Alliance to progress our mission. 

Our project began in March 2026, and we worked with Street Space to listen to our community and co-design low-cost changes to reimagine the crossings people find most difficult and dangerous. Our aim is simple: unlock affordable highway adjustments to make it safer and easier to walk, wheel and cycle, so that more of those short trips can leave the car at home.  

Shipley is a well-connected market town with a growing population of around 15,000, excellent rail links and plenty of amenities within walking distance. Yet major A-roads cut straight through it, and an estimated 25-30% of car trips in and around the town are under 2km. Short enough to walk or cycle.  

Local people told us that the town feels dominated by motor traffic. Wide roads, including a dual carriageway in the town centre, and very wide side-road junctions make crossing feel unnecessarily risky. Pavement parking, vehicles stopping on crossings, and parking on double yellow lines happen daily, with little enforcement. Speeding and anti-social driving are common, and signalised crossings involve long waits and overcrowded pedestrian islands at busy times. Outside the canal towpath, cycling feels hostile. In Saltaire, streets that were never designed for cars are lined with parked vehicles, leaving pavements blocked and front doors hidden.  

As a result, many people walking, wheeling or cycling take longer, more indirect routes simply to feel safe. 

These are not abstract problems. One parent described a car running a red light while she crossed the road with her daughter and buggy, leaving her badly shaken. Another said that she sometimes can't get her buggy out of her own front door because of pavement parking. One resident called road and pedestrian safety her number one local concern. 

The engagement reached a wide cross-section of our community.  

The good news is that there’s a strong appetite for change. Residents want traffic calming, better walking and cycling links, more signage and greener streets; the workshop buzzed with ideas. 

We have suggested practical ways to reimagine roads and crossings in Shipley, to reduce traffic dominance in Shipley and make it easier to walk and wheel. We focused design ideas for three specific locations: