NEW developments, including housing at High Royds, will increase the hourly traffic flow along the A65 at Menston by 15 per cent at peak times.

This was revealed at a meeting of Menston Neighbourhood Forum, when the impact of the development was discussed.

Councillor Chris Greaves (Con, Wharfedale), presented information by traffic consultant Sanderson Associates, which noted the A65 corridor through Menston carried 2,000 vehicles per hour at peak times.

The addition of committed developments, including High Royds, will increase this figure to 2,300 vehicles an hour, which is under the overall capacity of the road but might create problems at junctions.

Coun Greaves said: "The development will generate traffic levels similar to those by the hospital before its closure."

Because of the increased traffic, the High Royds developer is to fund £1.5 million in road improvements. These improvements will include the junctions of Bingley Road and Bradford Road, and Bingley Road and Main Street.

Peter Ward, chairman of the Menston Community Association, said the improvements would not be confined to Menston but would include junctions on the A65 corridor as far out as White Cross in Guiseley.

Coun Greaves also noted that when it came to traffic issues, the new residents who moved into the High Royds dwellings would not be given priority over the current residents of Menston. He said: "What they're going to do is make it difficult for the new residents to get out of High Royds."

He said the two entrances to High Royds, one at the Menston end and the other at the Guiseley end, would be single lane out with a set of traffic lights.

Coun Greaves said: "It's not going to be easy to get out of the development at rush hour."

By making it more difficult to get out, the hope is that the residents will take advantage of public transport services.

David Hoggarth, assistant director of development at Metro, who spoke about public transport, said: "We want to get more people on public transport at peak times." A way of doing this would be the implementation of a reduced fares policy.

Coun Greaves said to encourage the use of public transport, the High Royds developer, as part of the housing package, would offer new residents a free Metro card for a year, a half-price one for their second year and one at three-quarters of the price for their third year.

And Mr Hoggarth noted the High Royds development would put added pressure on trains at peak times. He said: "Capacity is our biggest problem. It's a victim of it own success. In the past few years, peak times usage has gone up 60 per cent."

However, he said Metro had been talking about asking for two extra trains to be added to both the Airedale and Wharfedale lines.

Some Menston residents at the forum also expressed frustration about parking problems around the station, as they noted that some people actually blocked residents from getting out of their drives. And some called for car parking charges to be implemented at the station and surrounding streets, and that residents should be issued parking permits.

But Mr Hoggarth said: "Metro's policy is to make parking free to encourage the use of public transport."

And Phil Sawley, Bradford Council's Principal Highways Engineer for Shipley, said: "It's very doubtful Bradford Council would put on street charges in villages.

He added: "Each permit issued costs the council money. How does it finance that?"