The number of road accident casualties in Shipley is still rising despite an overall fall in Bradford as a whole, according to a new report.

Councillors are now hoping the figures can be used to get more funding ploughed into road casualty reduction schemes in the Shipley area.

An officers' report to tomorrow's meeting of Bradford Council's Shipley Area Committee reveals that, although there were 3,342 casualties in the Bradford district during 2001 - a fall from 3,514 in 2000 - there was an increase in Shipley from 503 to 596.

And the total number of fatal and serious casualties in Shipley rose from 59 in 2000 to 68 in 2001 - the highest figure for five years.

The figures also show that in 2001 24 cyclists were injured in the Shipley area, compared to 20 the previous year, as well as 43 motorcyclists - 13 more than in 2000 - and 444 people in cars, a year-on-year increase of 93.

But the report also highlights good news for Shipley, with a 33 per cent fall over the past five years in pedestrian injuries to 49 - including 24 children - in 2001. This is a slightly bigger reduction than the 20 per cent to 484 for the district as a whole.

The report concludes: "The rising levels of total casualties, particularly car occupant casualties in all severity groups and powered two-wheeler casualties, are of concern.

"This review will enable the council to monitor the progress that's being made in reducing road injuries and give the area committee information to make informed decisions on the allocation of funding.

"It will be useful for the specific targeting of the area committee's road safety initiatives and the traffic management measures for new or remaining concerns.''

Area committee chairman Councillor David Heseltine (Con, Bingley) said: "It is of concern that the number of injuries in Shipley has increased when they've fallen in the district as a whole.

"We'll have to ask officers to find out why that's happened. We'll have to bear the figures in mind when we're looking at future schemes and they could be used as an argument for Shipley maybe getting some more funding to alleviate the problem.

"The fall in the number of pedestrian casualties is pleasing - it's obviously an issue we're getting things right on with the works we've been doing to slow traffic down and provide better crossings.''