The future well-being and prosperity of this area is quite clearly dependent on resolving the district's traffic and travel nightmare.

There is nothing new in this statement and it is a situation which has been talked about and debated for decades. As anyone who uses the road network in and around Keighley knows, the situation is getting steadily worse -- while the plans have become gridlocked, strangled by red tape and starved of cash.

As usual in such situations there are so many different government and local authority bodies responsible for the different layers that no one it seems is prepared to take overall responsibility for resolving the issue.

All this does is feed the "I told you so cynics" -- a classic example being the warnings about jams at Shipley and Saltaire after the Bingley Relief Road was opened.

It is a nightmare -- there's no other word for it -- and every week there's a new twist and turn to the saga. Take this week's example of the Keighley College plans threat.

What is for certain is that this district has come to a cross roads and the need to find a solution is even more pressing.

Surely it cannot be beyond the ken of the countless civil servants and traffic experts employed both locally and nationally to produce the answers, not just reports. Or is it because they have to report to political masters and numerous quangos?

Someone must now take the lead and set the agenda with concrete schemes and fixed timescales -- in the same way a private company would structure a business plan, with the clout to make it happen. It is a tall order but it has to start somewhere, such as by building on the good work already being carried out by the Keighley Transport Forum.

It is also a must subject to put on the agenda for would be MPs when the election is declared. They must be aware of the problem travelling around the constituency, or in most cases use the roads or public transport to leave the constituency to reach their homes.