Keighley councillor's road safety fears following Bradford Council re-surfacing work

Cllr Michael Westerman, chairman of Keighley Town Council's watch and transport committee, said the work on Park Lane, between Glen Lee Lane and Parkwood Rise involved the older anti skid surface being ripped up and replaced with a smoother material.

However, Bradford Council has rejected his claim that the road poses a risk to drivers, adding that this part of the road never actually had anti-skid material on it.

Cllr Westerman said while the old surface had a rough "sandpaper like" finish, the new surface is too smooth.

"It's a steep road with a bad bend," he said. "The reason we had that anti skid surface put on was because we had two near fatal road accidents there.

"Now the anti skid surface has gone, and when I asked Bradford Council why they said it wasn't cost effective.

"Is it going to take a death or a serious injury for them to realise the new surface isn't right?

"I've been told it takes a while to 'bed in', but if that's the case why do this work just before winter?"

Andy Fisher, Bradford Council principal engineer for highway maintenance, responded: “The surface on this stretch of road has never had anti-skid material applied to it. The only applied surfacing was the red material along the central section to warn drivers of the bend.

“Applied anti-skid material has a relatively short lifespan. To avoid regular replacement we now use longer-lasting inlaid road surface material containing aggregate with a high skid resistance value for ‘high risk’ locations, like approaches to pedestrian crossings and this section of road due to its gradient and bend. This provides better value for money for taxpayers.

“When first laid, the new material does appear shiny, especially when wet. This is due to the surface aggregate still being coated in bitumen after rolling.

"After a short period of use the bitumen wears off and although the surface may still appear shiny it should not present any skid risk.”