A DECISION to lift the weight limit to allow heavy goods vehicles to travel over Giggleswick's Penny Bridge has been upheld.

The proposal to strengthen the bridge, on Station Road, and remove its weight restriction was agreed back in March,

But after several letters of objection from residents, the matter was put back on the agenda of the North Yorkshire Craven Area Committee, which met last Thursday.

Since the meeting in March, seven letters of objection had been received from residents expressing concern over the committee's decision to lift the weight restrictions once a mini-roundabout and a safety scheme had been installed at the A65/C392 junction.

Residents claimed the committee's decision simply shifted the lorry problem from the centre of Settle to another residential area.

However, Bill Isherwood, area traffic manager for the county council, told the meeting: "We're not looking at diverting all of the traffic out of Settle centre and onto Station Road, Giggleswick."

He added that all he was talking about was diverting around 40 to 50 vehicle movements per day.

Other concerns were that there was a significant risk to pedestrians by HGVs negotiating the mini-roundabout. Mr Isherwood responded, saying this could be alleviated by pedestrian refuges being placed at nearby junctions.

There were also worries that Station Road had a high proportion of retired people, some of whom had to use electric buggies and had to drive on the road as there were no footways.

Mr Isherwood said the council had a disabled strategy and a meeting could be arranged with residents to look at putting in drop crossings and smoothing the footways out.

He added that there had so far been no progress on Penny Bridge and this was not likely until September at the earliest because of the foot and mouth crisis.

It was also reported that the formation of a working group to try to progress ideas for alternative routes for HGVs had been suspended for the same reason.

However, despite these reassurances, some people at the meeting were still not satisfied.

Station Road resident Sandra Price said: "Is it not obvious that the high percentage of traffic problems in Settle could be alleviated if a link road was put in between Helwith Bridge and the bypass to take the majority of quarry traffic out of the centre ."

This suggestion found agreement with Coun Shelagh Marshall, who said she had abstained from voting at the last meeting because it was such a "terrible situation".

Coun Marshall said when people had bought their properties on Station Road they had believed they were buying a house in a quiet country location.

"You cannot expect Giggleswick people to take this lying down."

Coun Marshall added she wanted the matter to be given further consideration and would like officers to see if it was feasible to put forward a link road as suggested by Mrs Price.

"I think this needs something different from the tram lines we are all going down."

Coun Beth Graham said ideas for link roads had been put forward for years and there was also the cost to consider. However, she added it would be acceptable for the officers to look into this idea, but that need not affect the previous decision.

Members agreed to uphold the previous decision but also look into the matter of alternative routes and bring those back to the next meeting of the committee.