HIGHWAY bosses want to put speed cameras on the Manor Park Bends after another head-on smash this week.

Part of a Government grant of nearly £500,000 will be used to pay for the scheme if it can be introduced.

Highway officials, and Bradford's environment chief, Anne Hawkesworth (Con, Ilkley) also want to reduce the speed limit on the Bends to prevent further casualties.

But for the next 18 months, the road will still be the responsibility of the Government's Highways Agency and Bradford Council will have to get permission to introduce any changes.

The notorious stretch of the A65 claimed more victims in a crash between two cars on Sunday.

An unnamed woman victim was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary with serious leg injuries and, according to West Yorkshire ambulance service, four other people were hurt in the accident, which occurred at around lunchtime. They were all taken to hospital suffering from less serious injuries.

The vehicles involved were a white Citroen Saxo travelling towards Burley-in-Wharfedale and a BMW being driven in the opposite direction.

The crash happened near the Little Chef restaurant and resulted in the closure of the A65 for two hours.

Only last month 55-year-old Burley-in-Wharfedale heating engineer Alan Waite died in a crash on the same Bends and at the time John Traynier, who lives at the Burley end of the Manor Park bends, told the Gazette that he hoped to used Human Rights legislation to get the bypass plan reinstated.

This week he said he would be contacting Shipley MP Chris Leslie to see what could be done about reducing the number of accidents.

Ilkley district councillor Colin Powell (Con), who lives at Southway, Manor Park, said that the latest accident illustrated the urgent need for action.

He said: "I have no doubt in my mind that the shelving of the bypass scheme has resulted in death and injuries on the bends.

"The only safe way is a bypass not just for people who live here but for everybody who uses the road."

Coun Powell has also called for an immediate reduction in the speed limit, backed up by speed cameras, from the present unrestricted status until a new bypass scheme was constructed.

Speaking of the latest accident, he said: "It looked a real mess and it is not going to be the last."

Rex Armitage, who lives on Ilkley