SIGNS to keep lorry drivers out of Addingham are to be installed along the A65, after months of haggling between nearby mill bosses and the Highways Agency.

Residents have long been plagued by heavy wagons - bound for the Straume (UK) Ltd textile scouring plant at Low Mill - inadvertently driving into the village and clogging up narrow roads.

Last year, Straume agreed to pay for direction signs on the A65 after receiving a £2,000 quote for the work from the Highways Agency. But six months later that price was upped to an astonishing £6,800 and mill bosses backed off.

Now the Highways Agency has come up with a compromise - £3,500 for seven signs - and Straume has agreed to find the cash.

"To save any further bother and aggro the company have accepted the quotation," said Straume spokesman John Porter. "We haven't got money to burn and we are not happy because the original quote was £2,000. But this is a little different from £6,800 at least."

Mr Porter said the signs would hopefully ensure that lorry drivers travelling from all directions would bypass the village and go direct to the mill, via the church end entrance.

"We want the problem resolved. We have a satisfactory outcome," he added. "I see no reason why it can't be done by mid-summer."

Alan Jerome, chairman of the parish council, said he was glad the matter had been resolved.

"I'm very pleased on behalf of the village that it's now going ahead. The signs are essential. Heavy goods vehicles, many of which are foreign, have no idea where to go," he said.

But he criticised the Highways Agency for increasing the cost in the first place. "It's just a great shame. I feel very sorry for the company that they are having to pay more than was first thought."

And he said it was 'crazy' that the work would not be carried out before mid-summer. "Another long wait," he said.

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said no date had been set for completion of the work.

"We have to formally sign the agreement with Low Mill wool processing plant. We will then order the signs and they will be put in place," he said.