A TRAFFIC calming scheme under construction in Hellifield has angered residents who feel elements of the project are garish and over the top.

Plastic reflective bollards and a large sign have led to complaints to the parish council from residents.

There is also concern about work to a bus stop and the boundary of the 30mph limit at the southern end of the village.

Clerk to Hellifield Parish Council, Cathy Dakin, reported: "The scheme they are putting in is one the parish council has not seen at all.

"Most of the complaints have been about the reflective bollards at Kendal Close and the big sign outside the new housing development which is now on the pavement."

A traffic calming scheme was developed by North Yorkshire Highways in consultation with the parish council some months ago.

In the meantime Lancashire Highways won the contract to maintain the A65 and developed their own project without consulting the parish council.

This scheme is now under construction.

But the bollards on the corner at Kendal Close have been criticised for their garish appearance and number.

On the original North Yorkshire scheme there were fewer bollards and they were wooden.

The parish council contacted Lancashire and has now negotiated changes to the bollards. They are to be reduced in number and coloured black with a white band. Members heard wood was not an option because if a car hit it the bollard would be unsafe until it was replaced.

Meanwhile the sign, which directs traffic to Nelson, Gisburn and Nappa, was branded too big, unnecessary and a hazard to the disabled, blind and people with pushchairs.

Parish councillors queried why the sign, which stands on two posts, had been moved from the grass area onto the pavement.

Parish council chairman Coun Jeremy Sample said through-traffic heading towards Skipton would already have been signed off to Nelson, Gisburn and Nappa at Long Preston, so he wondered why the sign was needed at all and particularly such a large one.

Coun Isobel Walton added: "It's a disaster in the centre of the village.

"It is so big and it is right in front of a new green area the village has worked hard to get."

The parish council felt the bollards and sign spoiled the look of the village.

Coun Sample said: "We have all those lovely daffs and we have the mowing organised. We get all this organised then someone comes and plonks these things down.

"I don't see why we should tolerate this sort of signing and posting. It is totally unsuitable. It is 100 yards outside the national park."

The bus stop at the Skipton end of the village has also attracted criticism after paving slabs were installed almost vertically around the verge edge.

"The paving slabs are awful, it just beggars belief," said Coun Sample.

Coun James Walker said the council should go through the scheme and make a detailed written complaint.

This week a Highways Agency spokesman said when Lancashire took over the contract for the A65, North Yorkshire's scheme had not undergone a safety audit.

Lancashire developed the detailed design of the scheme and carried out the safety audit, at which stage North Yorkshire Police opposed the 40mph buffer at the Skipton end of the village.

The 30mph limit is to be extended at the Skipton end as far as the Malham road junction but the signs for the limit have been painted out while a Traffic Regulation Order is made to legalise the limit.

The spokesman said the Gisburn Road sign had been moved off the grass because the land belonged to a local developer and putting signs on such land could "cause undue complications".

He added the sign was of standard dimensions and considered adequate for prams and wheelchairs.

He said: "The sign was proposed as part of the general sign improvements in Hellifield and matches a similar sign provided on the Kendal-bound approach to the junction. In fact it bars HGVs from using the minor road."

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