A MANOR Park resident plans to use human rights legislation to force the highways authorities to build a bypass at the notorious bends.

Health and safety consultant John Traynier hopes that the 1998 Human Rights Act could put an end to traffic misery for residents of the area, just outside Burley-in-Wharfedale.

The Act has recently been used to prevent night flights at Heathrow Airport in London because of the disturbance caused to people living nearby, and Mr Traynier is hoping to emulate the protesters.

In a letter to the Gazette, Mr Traynier says: "The bypass issue was not initially mooted for the benefit of drivers but for the human rights of the residents, particularly those on the roadside, who have increasingly suffered noise, pollution, extreme difficulties of accessing and egressing their homes.

"There are also the hazards of cyclists who avoid the dangers of the road by riding on the pavement even though they know they are committing an offence, and on top of all this, there is the verbal and facial abuse by drivers who must not be slowed down to allow us to enter and leave our homes."

Mr Traynier said that the highway authorities were aware of the need for a bypass at Manor Park as far back as 1932. He said: "This Human Rights Act has been extended. Our rights should be the same as anyone else's. Since 1932 we are in an unfair position to other road users. There is possibly a case. It is worth considering it.

"It is a very long-winded process. I would push for a bypass. The traffic then was nothing like it is now. It is true we are considering it, but exactly how we are going to do it we are not sure."

But according to Ilkley MP Ann Cryer, Mr Traynier may be wasting his time in trying to invoke human rights legislation.

Mrs Cryer said: "I congratulate him for inventiveness - I don't think anyone has done that before, but what about the people whose lives will be turned upside down by a bypass?"

Mrs Cryer, who is a member of the Council of Europe - the parent body of the European Convention on Human Rights - said that the case would have to go to Strasbourg because it was so unusual.

"I think it would be very, very expensive because you would be infringing on the human rights of other people," said Mrs Cryer.

She added: "Ilkley is divided into two. Those who don't want a bypass at any cost and those who think it would be the best thing since sliced bread. Wherever it goes it will impact on the lives of other people."

Mrs Cryer said she thought that the most promising strategy for preventing accidents on Manor Park bends would be to reduce the speed limit from 60mph to 40 or even 30.

She said she would be willing to help with any campaign to reduce the speed limit if fellow users or residents wanted to write to her.

"I use it a lot and I am well aware of the dangers," said Mrs Cryer.

District councillor Colin Powell (Ilkley, Con), who lives at Manor Park, told the Gazette that he thought a speed limit reduction campaign would prove more effective than an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

But Mr Traynier is hoping his campaign will take off with the support from other residents and the staff at nearby Ghyll Royd School.

"This is the early stages - I have to get hold of our Member of the European Parliament and we will have to go through the English courts first," said Mr Traynier.

He added: "I have lived here 23 years, my wife likes it here and we have excellent neighbours - we don't see why we should move."