DEEP mud left on a road bordering a new High Royds development at Menston has sparked fears for the safety of pedestrians and complaints that it is being tramped into nearby business premises.

Michael Flesher, 81, of Bingley Road, Menston, said transporter lorries exiting High Royds from Menston Drive and turning right onto Bingley Road had made a mess of mud that had fallen from the undercarriage of the vehicles.

He said that his trousers had been splashed with mud by passing vehicles and added that chunks of mud have fallen from the lorries as they travelled towards the A65.

And Julie Bailey, 45, of Yeadon, who works at the hairdresser's Cut Away at the junction of Menston Drive and Bingley Road, said she had got mud on her clothes and tramped some of it into the business premises.

She also said that customers who parked their cars in the area should take care when they walked across the High Royds site entrance. "I wouldn't want to see somebody slip," she said.

Paul Ingle, senior project manager for Country and Metropolitan Homes, the firm carrying out work at High Royds, said lorries leaving the site had to transport old timber from demolished buildings to authorised tips. He added that no loads of soil were transported from High Royds.

Wharfedale ward councillor Chris Greaves said: "With that sort of development, it creates a lot of mud."

He said responsibility for cleaning up the road should fall to Leeds City Council.

However Mr Ingle said: "Anything that comes off my site and makes its way onto the road, I clean up."

Mr Flesher said a cleaning vehicle had been out late at night last week washing some of the mud away, which he said had made the situation a little bit better.

Ilkley parish councillor Audrey Brand said that a letter from Ilkley Parish Council on behalf of concerned Menston residents had been sent to the developers. She said: "I don't want to put up with mud on the road, it's a dangerous hazard."

But she urged residents to be patient. "They're trying to cause as little havoc as possible for residents."

Mr Flesher also complained that the developers should not be using Menston Drive to haul away materials under a previous agreement made by the Raven Group.

But Mr Ingle said that for health and safety reasons, lorries used Menston Drive and private vehicles, such as those driven by High Royds Social Club members, entered the site from the A65 entrance.

Coun Brand said this made sense: "That's the only sensible way. It would be totally impractical for lorries to come out onto the A65. There's such a volume of traffic."