TRAFFIC light timings in Otley are to be adjusted to tackle rush-hour tailbacks.

The town has been suffering from lengthy traffic queues at busy times since a new one-way system was introduced for Charles Street, Walkergate and Nelson Street in October.

Leeds City Council reversed the direction of the traffic flow on Charles Street and Walkergate in December in a bid to ease the problems.

While that has partially helped, vehicles are still backing up on Pool Road at peak times – and motorists are continuing to illegally rat-run along access-only streets to avoid delays.

Councillor Barry Anderson (Con, Adel & Wharfedale), however, has now been told that the timings of traffic lights at the town centre’s junctions are due to be changed to further improve the situation.

In an update from Leeds City Council’s highways department, he was told: “In early December the one-way flows along Walkergate and Charles Street were reversed following discussions with local ward councillors.

“This has had the desired effect in easing traffic congestion to west of Otley, but we are mindful that this may create an increase in queue lengths on Pool Road during the evening peak period, which has now materialised on some evenings.

“Officers within the council’s Urban Traffic Management Control team now have remote access to control and view the signalised junctions, and are working to reprogram the signal timings during peak periods to help ease the traffic queues on Pool Road.

“Officers are aware that some drivers with a local knowledge of the area are choosing to illegally ignore the ‘access only’ order on Crow Lane and are choosing to drive through this restriction to avoid the queues.

“The police have been undertaking active enforcement on Crow Lane to deter these illegal manoeuvres.”

The original one-way scheme, which is part of the Otley Parking Strategy, was intended to tackle long-standing problems of congestion, driver conflict and pedestrian safety on Walkergate, Nelson Street and Charles Street.

The update goes on to point out that no objections were received before the publicised change, but acknowledges that the knock-on effects to traffic within Otley were “unforeseen and unacceptable”.

It concludes: “Any scheme, in its initial stages following installation, takes time to settle down and a thorough review of the current scheme therefore is best undertaken once the new pattern of traffic movements has stabilised.”