Controversy is raging over the multi-million pound by-pass plan for Manor Park bends.

Since being approved in principle by Bradford Council last week, the £5 million scheme has been attacked by everyone from

environmentalists to Ilkley Civic Society.

Even Bradford Environment chief Anne Hawkewsorth, who called for a report on the notorious stretch of the A65 after

accident rates trebled last year, has said she hopes the work doesn't need to go ahead.

But this week Manor Park and Burley-in-Wharfedale residents reacted angrily to what they branded as "ill-informed" criticism.

Mother-of-two Jan Smith, of Manor Park, was involved in a multiple vehicle crash when a lorry jack-knifed behind her car as she was trying to turn into her drive last November.

She said: "I find the recent comments made by Bob Tilley and Helen Kidman (Ilkley Civic Society chairman) in the April 18 issue of the Gazette both offensive and inaccurate.

"I am concerned about the safety of myself and my children rather than the value of my house. In the accident my two children were in the back of the car and were extremely lucky not to have been seriously injured.

"To make matters worse, three cars needed to take evasive action and leave the road to avoid the lorry, going up on the pavement where only hours before we had been walking.

"Traffic calming measures are a short term measure, not a long term solution - who will police a 40mph speed limit? For how long would a speed camera actually have any film in it?

"The problem needs to be rectified as soon as possible for the safety of all users of this stretch of the A65."

Mrs Smith's comments were echoed by fellow Manor Park householder and safety committee member Sarah Harrison, who has a 17-month-old son and is a step-mother to two teenagers.

She said: "As a result of the 15 accidents last year, a number of which involved vehicles mounting the pavement, I no longer feel able to take my son in his pushchair or to walk with him along the footpath outside my house.

"The A65 at Manor Park is not a suitable stretch of road for the volume of traffic passing along it. Speed is certainly an issue, however reducing the speed limit, even if it were consistently adhered to, would not lessen the volume of traffic which at rush hour has virtually no let up.

"The fact that we and other residents no longer feel safe leaving our houses to walk along the footpath or cross the road to the bus stop surely demonstrates where our concerns lie."

The Civic Society entered the fray last week by saying new speed calming measures should be tested before considering a project which would cause "irreversible damage to the countryside at considerable cost."

This week Friends of the Earth voiced a similar point of view, and said the focus should instead be on improving therail network.

Veteran safety campaigner and Manor Park resident John Traynier, however, a founding member of the A65 Safety Committee, said those living by the accident black-spot resented comments from further afield.

"Everybody was incensed by the Civic Society's comments," he said. "The Society is based in Ilkley and this is a Burley issue, so where they think their boundaries are isn't clear. We are now

trying to arrange a meeting with them."

The plan to create a new section of the A65 south of the current road, stretching from Burley roundabout to just before the Little Chef, still has to be submitted to central government for funding.

Meanwhile the Highways Agency is set to introduce a lower, 40mph speed limit and speed cameras to the bends this summer in a bid to cut crash rates, which rose to 15 last year and saw three people killed.

Coun Hawkesworth, also an Ilkley Parish councillor, said if that initiative proved successful then the by-pass project would not progress.

"This bid, if successful, will not become a reality until 2003 or 2004," she said.

"If, before then, it is proven that the accident rates we've been having were a freak, or if they were speed related and installing speed cameras brings them down, then it won't happen because the Government won't fund it.

"We've gone ahead with the bigger plan as a contingency in case the cameras don't solve the situation, so that what will be a long process is at least underway.

"I actually hope that it's found not to be necessary for us to do it because £5m is a lot of money, but on the other hand we just can't accept this level of people dying."

Ilkley Parish Council chairman Mike Gibbons said he shared concerns about the cost, and duration, of the by-pass proposals, and insisted Ilkley had a right to take part in the debate.

He said: "I think Coun Hawkesworth is correct in her comments and wisely points out that speed changes and cameras may make a difference relatively quickly, which may alter the long-term strategy for that area.

"I understand the high level of local interest but I don't believe that either Burley or Ilkley should seek to lay claim to this problem.

"It's an issue of safety for residents and motorists alike, and surely that is the prime consideration, whatever area they are from."

The fine details of the by-pass scheme are now being worked out before a bid is submitted to Government this summer.