(Image: Lily Corke-Butters/West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
WEST Yorkshire Mayor has highlighted the need to make cycle and walking routes safer for women and girls.
Tracy Brabin joined an autumnal cycle ride with the charity Walk Wheel Cycle Trust along the Spen Valley Greenway last week.
The visit marked new lights switching on along the traffic free path, in time for darker evenings.
Ms Brabin also welcomed access improvements, and pledged her support for the Trust’s work to make routes safer for women and girls to walk, wheel or cycle their journeys.
She said: "Women and girls shouldn't have to change their behaviour in order to feel safe.
"We are investing in well-lit paths and accessible routes for all to enjoy, and it was wonderful to get on the bike and experience it first-hand.
"Together with our partners, we’re delivering a better-connected, greener and safer West Yorkshire."
The Spen Valley Greenway is a 12km route between Dewsbury and Bradford, which is part of the National Cycle Network.
The route is often used by people commuting to the station, work or school, but numbers drop off when the evenings get darker.
A Walk Wheel Cycle Trust survey on the Greenway in 2024 found that only 10 per cent of women felt safe using the route after dark, and 19 per cent of men.
To help tackle this problem the Trust worked with Kirklees Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority to install LED lighting between Cleckheaton and Liversedge earlier this year, as well as other improvements which make the route safer and more accessible. The path is now lit every evening and ultimately the Trust aims to light the whole greenway.
Selina Gregoire walks on the path regularly and says the lights will make a big difference.
She said: “I like to walk in the evening and I’ll happily do it in winter now the path is lit up and feels safer.
“I know a lot of people have been waiting for the lights to go on, particularly the older generation, and dog walkers who want to do evening walks.”
Fozia Naseem leads an inclusive cycling group for women on the Greenway. She says lighting helps extend the times women can be active on the path.
“For people who are newish to cycling things can come out of the blue on an unlit path, so it’s too much to take on. This will open up more opportunities to cycle at different times of the day.”
As well as new lighting, improvements on the 2km improved stretch of the Greenway included laying a new surface, widening the path to three metres, and improving access ramps.
The project was funded by West Yorkshire Combined Authority, as part of the A638 Dewsbury – Cleckheaton Sustainable Travel Corridor.