A DRAMATIC drop in the recent number of passengers on the Airedale railway line will worsen traffic snarl-ups in Steeton and Silsden, warns a local councillor.

Adrian Naylor said increasing road congestion would be further fuelled by the ongoing massive housebuilding in the South Craven area.

He said: “The implications are clear that more and more people are choosing to travel by other means.

"By building more houses in our area this will only lead to more road congestion.”

Silsden has been earmarked for 1,200 houses over the next few years – with several hundred already built – and hundreds more are being built in Steeton and Eastburn.

The main roads through all three communities suffer daily traffic jams, with traffic regularly backing up from Steeton Top as far as Cross Hills during the afternoon peak period.

Cllr Naylor, who sits on Bradford and Silsden councils, spoke after Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Scrutiny Committee discussed a report on railway station usage.

Recent data revealed a reduction in rail usage in the district of 19 per cent for morning peak usage comparing 2017 to 2016.

And Cllr Naylor this week revealed more up-to-date data for Steeton-Silsden, Ilkley and Ben Rhydding stations.

In the period 2016/17 the Steeton-Silsden railway station was used by 851,608 people, and in 2017/18 by 838,952 people. This was a drop of 1.5 per cent.

On the Wharfedale line during the same period, Ilkley showed a drop of 1.6 per cent to 1,336,554 people, and Ben Rhydding a 5.1 per cent drop to 219,742 people.

Cllrr Naylor said that during the latest period usage of Forster Square station – the Bradford terminus for trains from Skipton and Keighley – had reduced by 4.1 per cent from 2,112,894 to 2,027,276.

Usage of Bradford Interchange had reduced by seven per cent from 2,976,052 to 2,768,542.

Summing up the figures, Cllr Naylor said: “This seems to suggest fewer people are travelling to Bradford from stations including Steeton-Silsden and are more likely to be travelling to Leeds.”

During the Bradford Council discussion of the usage figures, councillors claim commuters had lost confidence that local rail services would get them to their destinations on time.