COUNCILLORS have agreed to look at supporting a group of residents concerned that the roads on their estate which they spent £55,000 to improve are an “accident waiting to happen” due to speeding drivers.

Led by the Bull Royd Estate Residents’ Association, a petition calling for a 10mph speed limit and access-only restrictions on Bull Royd Drive, Bull Royd Crescent, and Bull Royd Avenue, in Fairweather Green, was submitted to the Bradford West Area Committee for consideration.

Council officers had recommended the petition be dismissed, but members overruled the decision and asked for a further meeting to take place.

The petition stated residents were “very concerned” for their safety due to cars using the unadopted roads as a “rat-run” in the morning rush hour.

It read: “These cars drive too fast, and someone is going to be knocked down. We would like Bradford Council to introduce a 10mph speed limit and make the roads access-only as soon as possible, before an accident occurs.”

An automatic traffic survey was carried out on Bull Royd Crescent in June last year, with the average speed of traffic clocked at 16.3mph when travelling towards Bull Royd Avenue, and 13.5mph towards Bull Royd Drive.

The traffic count also showed that, over a 24-hour period, a total of 21 vehicles used Bull Royd Crescent, of which 13 were detected between 8am and 9am.

Council figures indicated there had been one slight collision on the three roads in the last five years.

A report compiled by Andrew Smith, principal engineer at Bradford Council, said: “All the roads in the Bull Royd estate are unadopted highways.

“This means they are maintained by the residents and not the Council, but are still public rights of way. Therefore pedestrians and motorists who do not live in the area can use them.

“The introduction of a 10mph speed limit would not be permissible within current legislation. An access-only restriction requires the processing of a Traffic Regulation Order and is only enforceable by the police.”

A Council spokesman said that where unadopted roads formed part of the public highway, the lowest permitted speed the authority could enforce was 20mph.

Mr Smith told the committee: “The speeds are very low, as are the number of cars cutting through.

“We are very limited to what we could do as the roads are unadopted.

“We can’t look at traffic calming, so you are left with access-only, but I wouldn’t recommend that as they are very difficult to enforce.

“There are many other sites across the district where they are widely ignored.”

Councillor Sinead Engel (Lab, Clayton and Fairweather Green) said people were using the roads as a rat-run to avoid worsening traffic on Allerton Road. She said that prior to work carried out by the residents, the road was like “the surface of the moon”, and that speeds had increased since the carriageway was made smoother.

She also pointed out that the speed survey had been carried out prior to the improvement works being done.

Mohammed Faraz, a member of the Bull Royd Estates Residents’ Association, said while only 27 people had physically signed the petition, around 100 residents had voiced their concerns.

He said traffic on Allerton Road had become significantly worse since the introduction of mini-roundabouts at the bottom of the road, at the junctions of Bull Royd Lane and Squire Lane.

He said the group had raised £55,000 of its own money to upgrade the road, since when the volume of traffic using the road at speed had increased.

“Between 8 and 9 o’clock in the morning, there must be around 30 to 40 vehicles travelling at really high speeds,” he said.

“As a residents’ association, we are willing to pay towards having something done and would like to discuss our options.

“We want to protect the roads, it was really challenging to raise the money to improve them.

“There have already been a number of near misses and the site is an accident waiting to happen.”

The committee passed a proposal stating that a meeting take place between the petitioners, ward councillors, and Council officers, to discuss what options were legally available to support the residents.

How do you think drivers could be prevented from misusing this unadopted road?

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