THE search is on for the owner of a Skipton road so that a petition to have it closed to traffic can be considered.

Ings Lane is said to be dangerous to pedestrians and crumbling into a neighbouring beck under the weight of vehicles, and local residents want it bollarding off.

North Yorkshire County Council's highways department has received a petition of 23 signatures from those wanting the short cut to Engine Shed Lane industrial estate closed off.

But no owner can be found for the unadopted road, and the lane is recorded as being a public footpath with no recorded right for members of the public to drive vehicles along it.

And if public use continues, highways experts say the lane may become unsafe for vehicles if subsidence into the beck wall increases.

The county council does not have the necessary power to close Ings Lane to vehicles.

But, as the petitioners are requesting the erection of bollards, the council's head of legal services was instructed by members of the Area Three Highway Sub-Committee on Monday to try to resolve the ownership of the road.

A report on his findings will be presented to the next meeting of the committee in the new year with a view to the problems set out in the petition can be addressed.

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