CHILDREN are at constant risk from heavy traffic thundering through Otley, it is claimed.

Campaigners fighting for lorries to be banned from taking short cuts through the town fear it is a matter of time before a child is knocked down and possibly killed.

Now, they have lost patience waiting for Leeds City Council to take action and are calling on everyone in Otley to back them in their bid to force the council to ban unnecessary heavy traffic.

They have planned a public meeting in Otley Civic Centre on Tuesday, May 20, and on Saturday morning shoppers will be asked to sign a petition in Otley Market Place.

Steve Bielby of Safety on Otley Roads Action Group (SooR) said a survey showed that a lorry used the Billams Hill, Newall Carr Road, Otley Bridge route through the town every three minutes.

He said: "A recent Leeds City Council report revealed that 268 heavy goods vehicles were recorded from 7am to 7pm travelling on roads used by 2,055 pupils on their way to and from school.

"This daily presence is in excess on one HGV every three minutes on Billams Hill and Newall Carr Road and it has happened since the opening of a quarry at Greenhow, Pateley Bridge."

Mr Bielby, who has lived on Carr Bank for 11 years, says he has seen an enormous increase in the amount of heavy traffic thundering past his house.

"What we want is a lorry ban. We would love to see lorries banned from the town centre, but realistically we are looking for a weight restriction put on the bridge," he said.

The group is not aiming for Otley haulage companies to be banned from the town, just the quarry traffic from outside the area.

Mr Bielby said: "In the longer term, we are seeking a complete ban on all HGVs travelling through the town except for local haulage companies and deliveries to, or collections from, local businesses. However, we feel that the simple solution to this immediate threat to school children and others would be the removal of the quarry related traffic that has no need to travel through the town."

More than 100 people attended the first public meeting of the action group last year when residents furiously disputed traffic figures produced by the city council.

Since then, the council has come up with some suggestions as to how heavy traffic may be cut down including the possibility of introducing a weight restriction on the bridge.

But SooR has run out of patience and is calling for urgent action before a child is killed.

SooR claims that schoolchildren at Prince Henry's Grammar School, St Joseph's RC Primary, The Whartons School and Ashfield Primary School are all at risk from the heavy traffic.

Mr Bielby said: "There are no school crossing patrols on this HGV route even though St Joseph's staff and parents have tried for 18 months to appoint one to supervise their pupils for the extremely hazardous crossing of Bridge Street."

Other potential dangers are created by hundreds of pupils crossing Newall Carr Road to get to Prince Henry's