HIGHWAYS officials are meeting with Leyburn residents and councillors to discuss a busy road branded 'a serious accident waiting to happen' by locals.

After three years of highlighting dangers from HGVs and farm traffic on Moor Road, Leyburn, residents have secured a meeting with officials from North Yorkshire County Council’s highways team to highlight their concerns.

The meeting, this Friday, November 1 will be attended by district councillor Karin Sedgwick, town councillors Andrew Waites and Sue Medley, and residents Keith Dickinson and Derek Riley.

Richmond MP Rishi Sunak has helped residents raise their concerns with the authorities.

Mr Dickinson, who lives on Moor Road, said: “Residents of Moor Road have been highlighting the risks for three years without any remedial action being taken.

"The council seems to suggest nothing can be done until there is a serious accident, but we are trying to put in place a system that will avoid or reduce the risk of such an event.

“Surely preventative measures are more sensible and cheaper in the long run. Doing nothing is not an option.”

Moor Road, one of the main access roads into Leyburn town centre, is heavily used by farm vehicles serving the 2,000-acre Washfold Farm, run by Metcalfe Farms, which also houses a haulage business, automotive repair and fabrication businesses.

Planners are also considering an application for a cement works at the site.

Other businesses on the road include the Biker Group, a haulage and construction business and Cemex’s tarmac and aggregates site.

Mr Riley said: “There have been three accidents in the past 12 months, two where commercial vehicles have run into walls and one collision.

“We have far more agricultural vehicles and HGVs than an average road of this type and speed awareness needs to be improved.

“When my daughter visits and is pushing our granddaughter in a buggy up or down the road with our eight-year-old grandson, it is just not safe with lorries and tractors thundering by."

Residents are hopeful that measures such as flashing warning signs, traffic calming measures and a speed limit reduction could be introduced to make the road safer.