A CAMPAIGN has been launched to demand the removal of Settle's controversial speed humps.

Businesswoman Sandra Price has put together a petition, which she says has already been signed by over 300 people. It has been placed in several shops in Settle and will eventually be presented to North Yorkshire County Council.

The petition reads: "We the undersigned object to the installation of the 10 feet, by five feet by four inches traffic calming humps in the road at the southern end of Settle along Duke Street and want them removed completely and immediately.

"These objections are based on the dangers inflicted on pedestrians crossing the road and the noise pollution created by lorries bouncing over the humps."

Mrs Price, who lives in Station Road, Settle, where she runs her shop ArtiSans, said the problem had been a long-running saga, ongoing since January 2000. She said at that time excessive noise from lorries travelling through Settle had become unbearable due to the poor road surface. She wrote to the county council's environmental services department in August last year asking for the noise levels to be measured.

The authority replied saying it was looking into measures to minimise the impact of heavy goods vehicles through Settle. It would also be resurfacing the roads using modern noise suppressant surfaces, which would significantly reduce the noise generated. The work was subsequently carried out at the end of last year.

"The noise level was diminished to a murmur and for about a week it was bliss," said Mrs Price.

However, a series of traffic calming measures in the form of speed humps were then installed.

"The noise was about double what it was before the road had been rebuilt," she continued

To make matters worse, she added, pedestrians were falling "flat on their faces" over the humps.

A spokesman for the county council told Mrs Price the speed cushions were needed to enforce the 20mph zone through Settle town centre, so it did not require excessive enforcement by the police.

Now, Mrs Price is asking all those who have tripped over the speed humps to come forward so she can compile a list to send to the county council.

She said: "We don't want the humps painted or tinkered with, we want them out!"

Mrs Price is also considering seeking legal and medical advice with a view to taking the county council to court on the grounds of ill health caused by a depravation of sleep.

Settle Town Council is also against the speed humps and has resolved to request their removal once again.

Stewart Hurst, North Yorkshire County Council's group engineer, said he was conscious of the complaints and they would be discussed at the next meeting of North Yorkshire Craven Area Committee after June 21. He said officers would prefer modifications to the scheme and not full scale removal of the humps.