Highways engineers will have to visit a busy Silsden road after councillors were unable to agree which part of it was most dangerous.
Bradford Council has approved £35,000 funding to improve a crossing on Kirkgate – a road where two people were knocked down in separate incidents last year.
The money will go to improve one of the existing zebra crossings on the road, possibly adding lights to make a new puffin crossing.
The scheme, along with 11 other road safety projects, was meant to be approved on Thursday night by the council’s Keighley area committee. While the other projects were passed without question, the Kirkgate scheme led to a lengthy debate that ended with no decision on where the money will be spent.
Sitting on the committee were two Craven councillors, Andrew Mallinson and Adrian Naylor, who wanted the money to be spent on different parts of the road.
Coun Mallinson feels the money should be invested in a crossing opposite the town hall, which could soon see a £300,000 refurbishment, while Coun Naylor argued that the money should go to a crossing at the other end of the road, near Elliott Street. It was here a 30 year old woman was knocked down in December, suffering back injuries.
Coun Mallinson said: “Me and Coun Naylor are obviously at loggerheads over this issue.”
Coun Naylor said his preferred site was supported by the town council and the local “walking buses” that allow children to safely walk to the town’s primary schools.
He added: “The crossing at the town hall is just a crossing across the road. This one is a way to get across a four-way junction.
“It is beholden on us to do something about this crossing as a safety issue.”
He produced reports supporting the crossing, but Coun Mallinson said works would be more appropriate at the town hall, which could see more regular usage after it is refurbished.
Highways engineer Keith Escritt said: “We support both these schemes, but we just can’t afford them both.”
At one point the momentum seemed to sway towards Coun Naylor’s proposal, but the committee ultimately decided that both councillors would meet with highways officers to look at the two options, and deferred the decision until a meeting in June.
Other projects approved were a new vehicle activated speed sign, lighting and speed limit reductions on Marsh Lane between Oxenhope and Haworth, costing £20,000 and £18,000 worth of traffic calming measures on Keighley’s Braithwaite estate, where there have been six accidents in the last five years.