RESIDENTS on Thornton Road have been left bemused and angry after hearing from the Telegraph & Argus that Bradford Council plans to purchase a significant amount of their driveways to facilitate its road-widening plans.

Some said they had been in touch with the Council less than a month ago, and had been told that only a handful of homes by the Thornton Road/Cemetery Road junction would be affected.

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Now the plans look set to directly affect a whole portion of the street.

Garry Pearson, 79, and his wife Beatrice, 76, have lived in their home since 1963. They said: “The top of the land has belonged to the Council for road-widening since the 1930s, that’s why the houses were built further back.

“But we’ve been to countless meetings over the years and nothing’s been done.

“We went to one a few weeks ago though and were told they were looking to make traffic flow easier by installing some lights at Darvill Pets & Gardens just before the junction then cutting a few drives off at an angle.

“The plans they showed us had no impact on our property."

Mr Pearson said: “The traffic’s already very loud and it’s difficult to reverse onto the drive from the main road.

“It’s going to become virtually impossible if they do widen the road. I’ll never get in and out."

Jacqueline and Stuart Light, both 77, said: “We have enough problems with the drive as it is.

“People constantly park outside so we can’t get in and we’ve asked the Council to put double yellow lines down, but it says it hasn’t got the money for it.

“We know there’s a covenant in place for the Council, meaning it can adapt our property for road-widening only, but we’d heard that if nothing was done for 20 years (from the pre-war agreement), then it reverted to our decision.”

Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, added: “We were aware when we bought the property in 1977 that the road-widening would happen one day.

“It was in the contract and we were happy to sign it. It looked like something was going to be done five years ago but nothing happened.

“It does seem strange that the plans we were shown a few weeks ago have suddenly changed though.”

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: “Junction improvement plans considered at the Council’s Executive remain broadly the same as those included in the consultation.

“Compulsory purchase order plans always feature additional land which may be needed for access and construction activities as we build the schemes.

“It is very rare that all of this land is used in final projects.

"Detailed discussions will take place with all affected property owners to identify land which will be purchased and land which is needed for construction purposes.

"Land for construction purposes may be temporarily required by the Council but will always be returned to its original condition once construction is complete.”