Residents in Cleckheaton look like winning their fight to alter a £110,000 scheme aimed at reducing accidents at a blackspot.

Originally Kirklees Council's highways chiefs planned only to put traffic lights at the junction of the A58 Whitehall Road and Hunsworth Lane south.

But now the proposed scheme will include traffic lights at the junction of Hunsworth Lane north - which goes into Hunsworth village - and the A58.

The decision comes after more than 200 residents attended a public meeting at Hunsworth Community Centre to demand lights were provided as well at the northern junction to help vehicles turning right.

The Council also sent out 500 letters asking residents to comment on the scheme and there were 261 replies, with 93 per cent favouring the signals.

Resident and mother-of-two Sharon Farrar, of Whitehall Road, said: "I am absolutely delighted about the lights because there have been so many accidents and near misses at the junctions.

"You have to wait a long time for a gap in the traffic to cross the road. Old people daren't cross to get to the post office because the road gets so busy.''

Highways chiefs say there have been 16 accidents involving injuries in the last three years at the Hunsworth Lane/A58 junction.

Tomorrow the highways and transportation committee is being asked to approve the scheme which is scheduled to start in February, with completion by April.

It also includes anti-skid surfacing, better road signs/road markings, guard rails, tactile paving and push buttons on the traffic lights to help blind passengers.

There will be box markings at the junction of Whitehall Road/Kilroyd Drive and Oak Rise and Hunsworth Lane to stop traffic queuing at the lights blocking access to the streets.

Other plans include closing off access to Hunsworth Post Office from Whitehall Road while improving access to the branch from Hunsworth Lane and providing a turning area for cars.

Traffic engineer Richard Gelder said: "We are also considering providing facilities for cyclists.''

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