A KEIGHLEY public transport expert has slammed a campaign group’s plans for speeding up traffic at the North Street/Cavendish Street junction.

Former town mayor Graham Mitchell has branded BANDAG ‘s counter-proposals to the planned widening of North Street as “not sensible, unworkable and far too late to achieve a result”.

Mr Mitchell fears buses would not be able to negotiate bends on BANDAG’s alternative route along narrow Alice Street and Lord Street.

The wrangle centres on Bradford Council’s scheme to create an extra lane on North Street to allow traffic to turn left into Cavendish Street more easily. Tarmac-laying work began last week on a strip of land on the site of the former Keighley College building, which was demolished recently.

After seeing an announcement that work was to begin, Keighley environmental group BANDAG last week put forward an alternative method to reduce cost and avoid the loss of trees.

They suggested a new one-way system in Alice Street and Lord Street so vehicles could avoid the North Street/Cavendish Street junction.

This would involve three tight turns in quick succession for vehicles, left, right, then left again

Transport campaigner Mr Mitchell, who said he usually supported BANDAG’S aims, pointed out that eight buses per hour would have to use the route.

He said: “Six of these buses are 36-foot-long single deckers which would find it extremely difficult to make the acute right turn into narrow Lord Street.

“I have driven my own open-top double deckers on most of the town centre streets, including many not normally used by service buses, and the proposed BANDAG manoeuvre is not one I would have chosen, especially combined with the sharp left turn out of Lord Street onto Cavendish Street facing the 16 buses per hour exiting Cooke Street onto Cavendish Street.”

Mr Mitchell added that Bradford Council’s own widening scheme was not the ‘congestion-buster’ it was intended to be, claiming: “It is little more than re-arranging the deck chairs whilst ignoring the iceberg of exhaust pollution.”

Mr Mitchell commended BANDAG for wanting to save trees and green space and said “I urge them to campaign robustly for the re-planting of the mature trees from North Street onto the already grassed-over site of the former college, to create an attractive ‘Town Centre Park’ with lots of new planting and picnic benches.

“This would gain much public support and surely fits with BANDAG’s essential ethos. “ added Mr Mitchell.