TRAVELLERS through Silsden face months of delays due to several sets of planned roadworks, claims a councillor.

Cllr Adrian Naylor said temporary traffic lights would be put up one after the other in coming months by utility companies and housing developers on the approach from Steeton.

On the other side of Silsden, as the road rises towards Addingham, traffic lights could remain until 2021 for repairs to the wall.

Cllr Naylor said: “Yet again if we have any form of roadworks with traffic lights we see people queueing along Keighley Road back to the roundabout.

“It’s inescapable that as you come off the bypass you’re queueing to get into Silsden, and that clogs up both the bypass and Steeton. I was told by Bradford officers that four or five sets of roadworks are scheduled. It’s likely to be early summer before they work their way through.”

Cllr Naylor said companies were competing for the first slots in Bradford Council’s roadworks timetable. Delays to one had a knock-on effect on other utility companies or developers.

He said some of the work involved connecting new housing estates to existing utility cables and pipes, while other projects were improvements to mains supplies.

He added: “It seems to be every year that we see some sort of major work. It’s indicative that the whole of the infrastructure needs to be upgraded. There’s no real investment in infrastructure in Silsden.”

A Bradford Council spokesman said: “All street and road works are coordinated by the council, even where they are being undertaken by private developers and utility companies.

“Given the sheer volume required in the Silsden area, some disruption and delay is unfortunately inevitable but we are working closely with contractors to keep it to a minimum.”

On the Addingham side of Silsden, at the top of Cringles, council contractors have been repairing a dry-stone wall along the A6034 for several months, moving the traffic lights every so often as work progressed.

Cllr Naylor has criticised both the long timescale of the work, and that contractors are using concrete rather than traditional dry-stone techniques.

The council spokesman said the walls along the road were in a very exposed part of the district.

She added: “Adverse weather conditions along with competing demands on our contractor has created some delays but significant progress has been made.

“We have completed over 3,000ft of wall to date and have another 3,200ft to do. The work is likely to be finished some time in 2021.

“Concrete with a masonry facing is the quickest, most durable and cost-effective method of construction for these walls.”