Popular cobbled Keighley street to be repaired

Work to repair a steep, historic ‘cobbled’ street is due to start next week, thanks to a £190k boost from the Keighley Towns Fund.

Thwaites Brow Road, known locally as ‘The Twines,’ is paved with setts – square or rectangular quarried stones. But in some areas these stones are in a poor condition, and over the years repairs have been carried out with modern materials such as tarmacadam.

Repairs will involve the relaying of salvaged setts and the supply and laying of new ones, using £190K from the government-funded Towns Fund.

Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration, Planning and Transport Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw said: “These improvements are very welcome. The funding from the Towns Fund comes at a time when we are already significantly investing in a strategic programme to improve the district’s roads, creating sustainable transport corridors encouraging active travel that will reduce journey times, enhance safety and improve air quality.”

Liz Barker, Acting Chair of the Keighley Towns Fund said: “The Twines is part of our local history and we are delighted to be able to repair and improve it. The work is expected to take several months to complete. There is a relatively long timeframe because of the need for a specialist contractor to work on the setts, and the need to source replacement setts.”

The work will be supervised by Bradford Council’s Highway Maintenance North team and is due to start this week (w/c15 January). Access will still be available to all residents: The closure point will be just below Spring Avenue, and all properties above this will have to access via Long Lee Lane. The properties at the bottom of The Twines will be accessed via Parkwood Street.

About the Towns Fund

The Keighley Towns Fund is a £33.6m Government-funded support programme, as part of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Community’s Levelling Up (DLUHC) plan. Decisions on the way the money is spent was approved by DLUHC through the submission of Business Cases for each project, which was underpinned by a Town Investment Plan.  Access to this information is publicly available through the Towns Fund website. The Keighley Towns Fund Board is chaired by a private sector representative and supported by Bradford Council, which is the designated accountable body. The Keighley Towns Fund Board is an advisory board which is responsible for overseeing the delivery of the vision and strategy within the Town Investment Plan.