Councillors are calling for urgent safety measures at a congested village junction.

The pleas from Glusburn and Cross Hills Parish Council come after a recent accident at the junction of Main Street and Station Road, in Cross Hills.

Councillor Ian Gibson, who lives near the junction, said: “Traffic on Station Road is queuing all day to get out at the junction and sometimes it backs all the way up to the Kildwick roundabout. With the school not far way, you get children coming from different directions and wanting to cross the road. It needs a three-way traffic light.”

Parish Council chairman, Coun John Harker, said: “That junction is an accident waiting to happen and now an accident has happened.”

The Council will write to North Yorkshire Highways to express its concerns.

Chris Craven, area manager for North Yorkshire Highways, said that while it was a “point of congestion” in the village, nothing could be done to the junction in the “foreseeable future”.

“In terms of safety, it’s not one that features as a high-risk site,” he said. “It’s not a hot spot or a danger in terms of accidents, and so it didn’t get priority in our scoring system.”

Mr Craven said different proposals for traffic calming had been considered, but all had had problems. He said: “Traffic lights would sort it out for pedestrians, but lights would significantly increase congestion. We also looked at putting in a mini-roundabout, but we couldn’t fit one in and mini-roundabouts are also not good for pedestrians.”

He also said that Highways had considered squaring off the junction to slow down traffic turning left from Main Street into Station Road, but bigger vehicles would have to mount the kerb to turn. Another option would be installing a squared off half height kerb that could be “overrun” by vehicles, but this would cost £5,000 and he said it could not be done in the “foreseeable future”.