£12m bid to ease road chaos

But police said elements of the £12.8 million plans - including spy cameras on bus routes - were unmanageable.

While the Council said new CCTV cameras would deter rogue motorists from invading bus lanes, police said that prosecuting offenders could be expensive and time-consuming - and questioned who would foot the bill.

They also warned the pioneering guided bus lanes on one of the city's busiest roads could be seen as a race track by local joy-riders.

Sgt Keith Cluderay, Odsal division traffic manager, said: "These lanes could be attractive for joy-riders, especially considering the area they are situated in."

He said devices to keep cars off the lane were essential for the £9 million Manchester Road scheme, and said moves were afoot to ensure this happened.

Commenting on the £50,000 proposal for CCTV cameras along bus routes in Manningham Lane and Thornton Road, Sgt Cluderay said: "They are a good idea in principal but problems could arise with enforcing them."

He said: "It will take a lot of man hours to trace these vehicles from the film and then to prosecute drivers. I am not sure if the responsibility of that operation falls to the police or authority."

Sgt Cluderay said it was unlikely the police could manage this because its monitoring system of cameras at four city traffic lights was at "full capacity".

But the Council's pioneering scheme to help residents reclaim streets from cars won warm police support.

Under the £100,000 proposal for the Barkerend area, speed limits would be cut to 10 mph and priority would be given to those on foot. Motorists would be held responsible for any accident involving a pedestrian.

He said: "This idea began in the Netherlands where it has worked well. This could well be one of the first times it has been used in this country."

One section of Barkerend will be picked as a pilot following extensive consultation.

Another key aspect of the scheme is to come down hard on motorists parking on zig-zag lines outside schools.

More than 40 projects are in the package which will be considered by the Council's Executive Committee on March 15. If given the green light, the two year transport programme will be jointly funded by the Council and Metro.

Today Councillor Latif Darr, committee member for transport and planning said: "It is by far our biggest programme and we feel it will improve the quality of life for many people within the district."

Acknowledging the police comments, he added: "We suspected that we as the local authority would have to pay something towards the costs of enforcing new traffic regulations. We will be talking to the police and sorting something out in detail."

Other major projects include:

A bus priority route on the slip lane between Westgate Hill and Dudley Hill on Wakefield Road (£300,000);

Extending city centre environmental improvements, including new paving to Sunbridge Road and North Parade (£275,000);

Keighley bus station redevelopment and access improvements (£2 million);

Traffic management in North Street, Cavendish Street and East Parade, Keighley (£500,000);

Spy cameras on Thornton Road and Manningham Lane bus routes (£50,000);

Shipley town centre improvements, including a 20 space car park off Market Street and improved access lighting at Shipley station and extensions to station car park (£408,000);

The Council's urban traffic control unit would be moved into the new CCTV nerve centre in Britannia House, with a view to adapting existing roadside cameras to take in other areas.

Coun Darr said funding was already in place for all the schemes and work on some could begin almost immediately.

"In the past we have had a bits and pieces programme. Now we are planning ahead and can adapt things as necessary.

"It is a very exciting programme and the measures are in line with Government thinking on integrated transport."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.