ANTI-LORRY protesters in Otley believe they have won an HGV ban.

Following Tuesday's high level meeting with council leaders in Leeds, they are confident a 7.5 tonne weight limit will be imposed on the town centre.

Members of action group Safety on Otley's Roads (SOOR) met Leeds City Council leader Councillor Keith Wakefield and highways councillor Gerry Harper and returned confident of success.

Phil Coyne, SOOR chairman, said yesterday he was delighted with the result.

"We've been given the unequivocal backing of the leader of Leeds City Council. He told us he had experience of voluntary bans in other parts of Leeds and they just didn't work. He told us the only solution was a lorry ban."

Mr Coyne said a meeting was now likely between Leeds councillors and their counterparts on North Yorkshire County Council.

"We are absolutely delighted, although we do realise it will take some time," he added.

Geoff Wright, from SOOR, added: "We shall certainly not be disbanding the action group just yet, but if the politicians tell the officers to do something, they will have to do it.

"We are delighted. Every single politician we spoke to gave us their wholehearted support. Certainly they are on our side and understand our problems."

Council leader Coun Keith Wakefield said: "I am very keen to take this matter on and start talking with the relevant people about the possibility of introducing a lorry ban.

"The action group has our support in trying to achieve a ban that works. I will seek a meeting with highways to see what can be done and a delegation from Otley are welcome to attend.

"The points they raise about narrowness of roads, the location and the schools are all perfectly valid, so that is why I am happy to support the campaign for something to be done. I realise the lorry drivers have a job to do themselves, but it should not be at the expense of a community."

And Coun Gerry Harper, executive board member with responsibility for highways, added he would be setting up a meeting with highways as soon as possible.

"Hopefully, by getting everyone around a table, we can discuss all the issues and put in place a process which will bring about a solution to the traffic problems in Otley town centre."

Mr Coyne believed a ban on HGVs with no reason for being in the town would be operated by having weight restrictions put on the entrance to the town at Newall Carr Bank with an additional warning at the Blubberhouses turn off on the A59.

"We want a ban on all HGVs over 7.5 tonnes. We simply don't think the town centre is an appropriate place for these lorries to drive through," he said.

SOOR was set up in an effort to stop quarry vehicles coming through the town from Greenhow Quarry at Pateley Bridge.

Quarry owners Hanson Aggregates, following discussions with the city council, imposed its own one way system to and from the quarry involving laden lorries coming through Otley and empty ones returning via Pool-in-Wharfedale, Lindley, Farnley and Norwood.

Earlier this week, Leeds City Council welcomed a huge drop in quarry vehicles through the town.

It claimed traffic surveys showed that the numbers of quarry vehicles coming through the town had dropped from 50 a day before Hanson's route change to just ten now.

But yesterday, a council spokesman said that it had been agreed to explore the possibility of a lorry ban.