A POSSIBLE solution to Settle's early morning heavy goods vehicle problems could be agreed within the next month.

For years local residents have complained about the number of trucks using roads through the centre of the North Craven market town and the subsequent noise.

Last year North Yorkshire County Council instigated the Settle Freight Quality Partnership, a forum of quarry owners, hauliers, councillors and other interested people, dedicated to finding a workable way of managing heavy traffic in the town.

Now a working group from the partnership, set up to specifically look at the use of lorries in the early hours, has come up with a possible scheme, which will go before the full group within the next few weeks.

If approved by the partnership, it will be put to the county council's area committee for agreement and implementation.

Allan McVeigh, of the partnership, said he could not reveal details of the solution until it was agreed by the group.

He told the Herald: "We have finalised a proposal for reducing the number of trucks in the town in the early hours. It is a good proposal which seems to have the full agreement of the hauliers and quarry owners, so it is a step forward."

An audit of HGVs looking at speed, the routes being taken, noise and vibration has also been completed and reports will be presented to the next meeting of the partnership.

A date has yet to be set for the meeting, but it is expected to be within the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, hopes for a possible rail link to Horton Quarry appear to be years away.

The Strategic Rail Authority has withdrawn its rail grant which the quarry might have applied for, although the move is not seen as a major problem.

Horton Quarry manager Carl Lis said hopes were high that the grant scheme would be restarted in the future.

Hanson, which owns Horton Quarry, was still looking at all the options for traffic around the site, said Mr Lis.

It was understood that whatever scheme the company came up with, it could be four years before the signalling infrastructure could be provided, he said.

"Eventually we will come forward with something. It is not just at about providing facilities at Horton, it is also about providing off-loading facilities at wherever you are taking the stone. However, I still see it as the way forward," Mr Lis told the Herald.