ANGRY residents are preparing to block roads in a bid to stop lorries thundering through Otley.

Frustrated by an apparent lack of support from Leeds City Council, action group Safety on Otley's Roads (SOOR) this week voted for direct action.

At a meeting attended by more than 100 people, Leeds City Council representatives discussed a range of options designed at coping with heavy traffic cutting through the town - but SOOR members claimed steps were not being taken quickly enough and called for direct action to force the city council to impose a ban.

SOOR chairman Phil Coyne said through lorries had a massive impact on the quality of life of people in the town and daily put the lives of 2,000 children at risk.

"We very much want a lorry ban - it is the only reasonable solution," he said.

Transport planning officer Andrew Hall said the first step had been to talk to quarry operators Hanson at Coldstones Quarry, Greenhow, Pateley Bridge. He expected an answer from Hanson's in the next week, but if self-regulation was not feasible then further action would be considered.

Options open were a one way system through the town, a lorry curfew and a lorry ban - all involving long consultation with neighbouring authorities.

Mr Hall, who at Tuesday's meeting at Otley Civic Centre revealed traffic surveys showed levels of heavy traffic on Newall Carr Road, Billams Hill and Farnley Lane were comparable to similar roads in the district, ruled out any possibility of a bypass on the North of the town but added the city council viewed the East of Otley bypass as a permanent, long term solution to heavy traffic to the east.

Residents of Newall Carr Road complained of being woken at 5am every day by wagons and described them as 'battleships' thundering their way into the town.

Councillor John Eveleigh said most people accepted the lorries with business in Otley, but were totally opposed to the 50 per cent who just used the town as a short cut. "We have to find another route for these vehicles. We have the situation where these massive juggernauts are driving right next to kids' heads," he said.

Steve Tolley, from SOOR, claimed that HGVs had changed their routes while traffic surveys were taking place.

"I live on Billams Hill and I think there have been significant changes in the pattern of vehicles in the last couple of months, that is not a coincidence."

Mr Hall stressed that the council was taking the problem of lorries seriously.

"If Hanson's don't come back to us we can look at traffic management. That could involve some type of lorry ban or a night time curfew between 7am and 7pm.

"Other alternatives are to ban lorries completely on Newall Carr Road. We have not got to that stage and if we do that would have an impact beyond our borders. Other authorities might take issue with us and it could be taken out of our hands and into the control of the secretary of state."

But he warned: "A lorry ban is not something that is simple to implement - if we ban the lorries in Otley they will appear somewhere else."

Steve Bielby from SOOR said: "Can we not assume that Hanson's is not going to respond and move on.

"We should set a date and if the lorries are still coming down Newall Carr Road then we should take direct action, do we wait for the official bodies to do something, or do we do something."

l A petition has been launched to stop lorries in Otley. Copies are available from The Wharfedale Observer, 9 Orchard Gate.