HIGHWAYS bosses have been accused of keeping people in the dark over a major road closure set to affect hundreds of travellers.

Work is due to start on Monday to replace a bridge which holds a Sutton street up over the village's beck.

The work, expected to take several months, will mean a ban on traffic travelling east on Main Street, with a diversion in place.

However, bus operators Keighley and District travel are furious that they haven't been consulted. And now they say they will be forced to stop Keighley-bound buses running into Sutton for the next few weeks because even single-deckers cannot cope with the diversion route.

Headteachers at Sutton's two primary schools are also angry that they weren't informed. The road closure will mean parents cannot park outside the schools.

However, North Yorkshire County Council says it did go through a consultation process in mid December, and that bus companies were informed.

Jeff Smith, operations manager at Keighley and District Travel, told the Herald he had requested a meeting with the county council but they had refused. He said the company had been left with no alternative but to stop some buses running into Sutton.

"The council is not prepared to look at a system which will allow buses only in one direction," he said.

"We run 12-metre rigid vehicles which are extremely difficult to manoeuvre through the detour route."

Phil Sant, headteacher at Sutton County Primary School, said he feared for the safety of his pupils who would have to cope with increased traffic as the school was on the detour route.

He had heard about the work from Sutton councillor Ken Hart, who is chairman of the school governors.

"It's going to cause a lot of chaos for us," he said.

"We're very concerned about the amount of traffic which is going to be coming down Bridge Road, but have had no communication with the highways department."

And the story was much the same from Doreen Coles, headteacher at Sutton CE School, who was only aware of the situation after the Herald had contacted her.

"I'm not happy that I've not been told and I can't even begin to imagine the chaos it will cause," she said. "I'm worried about the children's safety and also the parking."

Sutton Parish Council discussed the road closure some weeks ago and wrote to North Yorkshire County Council to express its fears.

District and parish councillor Steve Place said it had not yet received a reply.

"I'm absolutely astounded at the arrogance of North Yorkshire in imposing a detour route that cannot be used safely by everybody," he said. "I will be asking for a full apology for the people of Sutton and to the bus company for the problems which will be caused by this lack of consultation."

A spokesman for the county council said: "Everybody was informed in mid-December, and that includes the bus companies.

"No specific meeting was arranged with them, but we did accommodate one or two points to lessen any disruption. What we couldn't allow them to do was to go the wrong way down a one-way system.

"The parish council didn't express any real concerns - only a few minor traffic details. However, we didn't tell the schools and for that we apologise."

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