PARENTS who have campaigned for years for a safer route for their children to walk to school in Skipton are celebrating after it was agreed two crossings will be installed.

Puffin crossings will be introduced on Water Street and Mill Bridge in the New Year as part of a £60,000 scheme agreed by North Yorkshire's Craven Area Committee.

Cath Conn and Jill Wood were two of the parents who had petitioned for a safe route to schools on Water Street and Gargrave Road. They had already successfully campaigned for a crossing on the Bailey.

Mrs Conn said this week: "We are delighted. I have spoken to Jill about it and we said we would break out the champagne."

She told the Herald it was an every day struggle to cross the road, especially with a number of children. "I think it will make a big difference," she added.

Mrs Conn said the crossings might even bring about a reduction in the number of cars using the area.

She added that she knew there had been some people opposed to traffic calming measures in the Mill Bridge area - one of the oldest areas of town. "We just want to be able to cross safely," she declared.

Fellow parent Mrs Wood said the crossings would give her peace of mind as her daughter would be walking to school on her own in September.

"I am just absolutely delighted. I think it's what should happen because I have always said children's safety is the most important thing," she said.

The scheme has taken nearly two years to come into fruition. Initial plans for traffic calming in the area were sent back to the drawing board following objections from bodies, such as Skipton Civic Society.

And, at a meeting of the area committee last Thursday, Gwynne Walters, on behalf of the society, criticised the decision-making process.

She said: "I wrote a letter to all committee members on September 12, including details of past injuries and approximate numbers of people crossing at various points which I considered new data, only to discover that on September 8, only 20 days after the one and only advertisement relating to the crossings had been published, the final decision had been left to the chairman and the local member.

"Had it been left to this month members would have read my letter and had an opportunity to discuss it. Although the outcome may have been the same, at least the decision would have been that of the committee as a whole which is only appropriate for a development likely to have a major impact both traffic wise and visually."

Skipton Chamber of Trade president Bob Wright said the scheme would see an increase in traffic due to cars being "backed up" along Water Street.

Chairman of the area committee Coun Polly English said members had fully considered the evidence from both the chamber of trade and the civic society.

She added: "We did take into account fully your thoughts on the matter and a decision was made to go forward."

Coun English said the purpose of the advertisement was to ask for new evidence. "We felt there was not enough new evidence to alter the decision," she added.