Fed-up residents of a quiet Shipley street are sick of the road being used as a rat-run by motorists and fear there will be an accident unless highways chiefs take urgent action.

Two cats have been killed by speeding motorists in Bankfield Drive, Nab Wood, and residents say that pedestrians - in particular children at Nab Wood School - are being put in danger by motorists breaking the 30mph speed limit.

They says the traffic trouble started following the completion of the £48m Bingley Relief Road four years ago.

Traffic volumes have risen dramatically since then, because of drivers using Bankfield Drive as a short-cut to avoid congestion on the A650 Bingley Road and Cottingley Cliffe Road.

Now residents are calling on Bradford Council to put in traffic-calming measures as a matter of urgency.

Simon Malcolm, 44, of Bankfield Drive, has gathered a petition of all but one of the street's residents, which he says reflects their growing safety concerns.

A copy of the petition has been sent to Shipley MP Philip Davies, Bradford Council's executive member for culture and the environment Anne Hawkesworth and Shipley's ward councillors.

Father-of-two Mr Malcolm, the managing director of a marketing consultancy in Otley, said: "Since the onset of construction of the Bingley bypass, there has been growing use of the roads through Nab Wood and across our area.

"We have noticed an increase in the volume of traffic, particularly during peak times. Maybe some motorists are driven by their desire to get somewhere quickly, but they are doing so down a quiet, residential street.

"Some residents have had pets killed and some of the residents I have spoken to have young children and they don't let them play out in the street.

"There is a school at the bottom on Nab Wood and there is a bus stop there with young people getting on and off the bus. There could well be an accident at some point."

Mr Malcolm said that children at Beckfoot school and Bingley Grammar were also being put at risk by using the crossing at the bottom of Bankfield Drive.

He said: "In the very short term, we would like to see some better signage to show that it is a residential area and that people need to drive slower. Bankfield Drive only has and old, rusting sign covered by foliage.

"In the longer term, we would like to see it changed into a road where you can't cut through."

Mr Malcolm said he had received a response from the Council's highways department saying the proposals would be considered as part of the overall traffic management plan for the A650.

He said: "We are happy that our concerns have been recognised but it is the time it takes to solve the problem. We need something doing in the short term."

Councillor Martin Love (Green, Shipley), said that he and his Shipley colleagues would fully support any proposals to alleviate traffic congestion in Nab Wood, Moorhead and Saltaire.

He said: "We are very concerned that Bankfield Drive is not looked at in isolation, because there could be the danger that traffic calming measures will just shift the problem to Bankfield Road. We want the two roads looked at together.

"It is several years now since the Bingley Relief Road opened and there has been no action taken to alleviate rat-running in Nab Wood, Moorhead and Saltaire.

"We are told that the money is there within the local transport plan but we have been given no dates. It could go on for years and years yet."

e-mail: marc.meneaud@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

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