MULTI-MILLION pound road improvement plans which would provide "enormous benefits" to Horsforth and Aireborough have taken a major step forward.

A Leeds City Council commissioned study of the A6120 outer ring road has finally been completed - and it's recommending a massive overhaul.

Amongst the top priority areas in the document's conclusion are the road's roundabouts and junctions, including the A65 and Horsforth Woodside roundabouts.

Also included is backing for the creation of a new link road from Rawdon to Leeds Bradford Airport.

The city council's Executive Board was yesterday due to vote on the recommendations.

Councillor Brian Cleasby, Chairman of Leeds Scrutiny Board (Development Services), said: "Our officers and consultants are recommending us to accept to go for the lot.

"But they've identified, surprise, surprise, that the stumbling blocks are the junctions with the radial routes so they're saying the priority measures should be the junctions, as that's where the biggest benefits will come.

"If we sort out and upgrade the roundabouts at Horsforth on the A65 and Horsforth Woodside and at Rodley it would give a lot of people the feeling they were travelling more safely and efficiently on the road.

"But none of it will be cheap, the A65 roundabout may cost as much as £7 million to sort our because there's a distinctive problem there - the traffic that goes down towards Rodley is only a single lane and that's where the biggest problem is. So the road would have to be widened and that will be expensive.

"But I'm sure nobody from our area would dispute that it would be worth it. Around 35,000 people a day use that roundabout trying to get into Leeds, it's just a nightmare.

"What they've done at Dawson's Corner, near Pudsey, where lights have been put in and everything widened is the model we'll be pushing for, because it works. Something like that on the A65 at Horsforth would get rid of half of our delays and the anxiety drivers have at present. And that would greatly help areas further up too, because we have all these sites being developed, Silver Cross, High Royds and so on, yet the roundabouts are creating an economic bottleneck."

Turning to the airport link road option, he said: "I can't see why anyone would want to rat-run through Horsforth if that road was available. There would be enormous benefits for Horsforth and beyond and for Scotland Lane residents in particular."

If the city council board accepts the findings, the next stage will be detailed priority schemes, with estimated costs, being drawn up and put back before the board for approval.

Coun Cleasby said: "The challenge will be to identify the money. It will be in the region of £150 to £160 million to do everything and involve creating new stretches of dual carriageway and bridges.

Fellow scrutiny board member Councillor Graham Latty (Con, Guiseley and Rawdon) said: "From the point of view of the people in our part of the world the only bit of this that matters is the upgrading of the Horsforth roundabout, which is probably the worst of the junctions on the ring road for stopping traffic flow.

"If we were to have the stretch of road between that roundabout and the roundabout at Rodley made into dual carriageway I believe it would solve 70 per cent of the problems at Horsforth. Those are mainly caused by people coming from the 'Otley' end wanting to turn right into what is currently a single lane.

"But I think it could be four years before we see the first 'spade in the ground'. I certainly would be pushing for the work to start at our end, because I think the improvement to Horsforth roundabout would give the best possible benefit-cost ratio."