Safety will be improved for walkers and cyclists in a West Yorkshire town as part of a footpath widening scheme.
The council is set to spend around £45,000 upgrading a pathway between West Busk Lane and Ilkley Road in Otley.
New cycle tracks will be created under the scheme by Otley Town Council and Leeds City Council.
A city council report said: “The path is currently too narrow to allow for safe and comfortable shared use by cyclists and pedestrians.
“People on bicycles are observed using the link path despite its substandard width.”
The report said people had been using an alternative route on Bradford Road, where there had been six serious and nine slight collisions since 2019.
Concerns were also raised over the safety of school children using the existing path, used to access the town centre.
The report said: “The two-metre path width cannot comfortably accommodate the peak demand, especially given the number of children cycling or scooting to school.
“It is therefore proposed to construct a cycle track by widening the path to 2.5-3m, to enable shared use for cyclists and pedestrians and accommodate groups of children walking to school together.”
A public consultation found people would be more likely to walk or cycle if the patch was upgraded.
The report said: “Otley Town Council support and actively champion the scheme, including funding part of the construction.”
