A JUNCTION crossed by school children on a daily basis needs urgent work if an accident is to be avoided.

Skipton parent Jill Wood, of the Old Saw Mill, Skipton Woods, told the Herald that the junction of Water Street with Mill Bridge was an accident waiting to happen.

All of Mrs Wood's three children have to negotiate the junction daily in order to get to school.

Her seven-year-old child attends Water Street Primary School while her two other children, aged 11 and 13, attend Skipton Girls' High School and Ermysted's Grammar School up Gargrave Road.

Mrs Wood said the junction was "an extremely difficult and dangerous crossing".

"Traffic travels down Grassington and Raikes Roads at a dangerous speed and there is very limited visibility," she added.

She said that the majority of children walking to school lacked experience and education in crossing roads.

"The children crossing that road are at a particularly vulnerable age, between 10 and 15 years old," she added.

Governors at Water Street School have written to North Yorkshire County Council to bring the matter to the council's attention and Mrs Wood raised her concerns at the last meeting of the Craven Area Committee.

The governors have pointed out that a number of the children who attend the school live in the Overdale area of Skipton and their only route to school means negotiating the junction.

The Highways department agreed that the junction should be improved for pedestrian safety and the school asked that the work be done in the coming financial year.

The scheme is currently at the design stage.

Bill Isherwood, of North Yorkshire County Council highways department, said the junction had been included in the programme of improvement works, and was a priority for the coming financial year.

Mrs Wood added: "I believe that in an urban area like Skipton it would be of benefit to everyone if children could walk to school in safety.

"I genuinely feel that it's beneficial to children to walk to school and there's been a lot of publicity in the national press recently about the benefits of children walking to school.

"But things like this encourage parents to get in to their car and drive them to school, which works well to exacerbate the problem.

"I would not like to see a child have an accident there. My own children are in danger as well as other children too. I have been concerned about this junction since I moved here three years ago."

Proposals to improve the junction, as well as many others in the town. have been included in the Skipton Traffic Management Strategy.

And at the meeting of the Craven Area Committee, Mike Moore, director of environmental services, responded by saying that a report on the matter would be brought to the next meeting of the Craven Area Committee on February 13.