CHILDREN'S lives could be put at risk from traffic in a Yeadon cul-de-sac if plans for a new housing estate are given the go-ahead, claim residents.

Families living in Crofters Lea say their road is already congested by traffic dropping off and picking up children at nearby schools.

And they claim three housing applications for land next to Crofters Lea, currently before Leeds City Council, will make the situation worse by turning the cul-de-sac into a through-road.

Janet Cartwright, who lives next to the land earmarked for development, said: "I'm not so bothered about the building work, you can't buy a view.

"What I am bothered about is our children's safety because of the access problems you'll get on a road running straight through here - it can't take the amount of traffic coming around here now."

And while just four houses are up for development, the land forms part of a much larger area already earmarked for further homes.

Mrs Cartwright, who has a son Joshua, eight, and daughter Emma, five, said getting in and out of Crofters Lea from the A65 was already impossible when Westfield Junior School and SS Peter and Paul RC School were starting or finishing.

"I go and pick my daughter up and I don't come home until way after 3pm because I just can't get here," she said.

The three separate applications before the council's planning department are from B Danby and Co, although two are for the same scheme.

The developer has appealed against non-determination by the council on one account and another remains outstanding. The third, however, has been agreed in principle by planners who have referred it to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) as the land is designated green space.

A council spokeswoman said: "It should be stressed that the area in question is small, serving no more than four houses on each side of the access road, and is part of a larger area already approved for residential development."

But angry residents are lobbying the city council's planning and highways departments to create another road from the bottom of the proposed site by developing Dibb Lane and Milner Road.

Retired Peter Walkington has taken photographs of the congested road on regular occasions to provide officers with evidence of the problem.

"But they have told us Dibb Lane and Milner Road aren't up to standard and they will access the new houses from the A65 through here," he said.

"There's no traffic calming measures on the A65 and it's very dangerous. It's only by the grace of God that you get out safely. Traffic is backed up there at all times of the day."

Mr Walkington echoed residents' fears for the safety of their children. "It's a tragedy waiting to happen and a child could be killed. Then maybe they will realise we have real access problems here. This really is our concern."

Mrs Cartwright added: "At the end of the day, yes, houses are going to be built, we realise that. All we want is for this to be safe and it won't be without a different access road."

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