KILDWICK level crossing is regularly reaching gridlock and forcing frustrated drivers to take risks, Craven area committee was told.

Motorists are dangerously swapping lanes when confronted by the snarl-up of cars queuing from the the level crossing back to the A629 dual carriageway which carries 29,000 vehicles a day.

The barrier can be down as much as 50 minutes in any hour creating long tailbacks in either direction.

Councillors meeting at Ingleton agreed to lobby Tory Chief Whip and Skipton MP Julian Smith to lend his weight to solving the road and rail conflict which is getting worse.

The authorities should also re-consider the chances of constructing a road bridge across the Skipton to Leeds and Bradford lines, the committee heard.

Cllr Philip Barrett said: "It has now become a regular occurrence for the roundabout to become gridlocked with frequent and long periods of down time at the level crossing.

"It's a very busy roundabout without the additional highway safety dangers caused by frustrated drivers trying to change lanes when the roundabout is gridlocked.

"Although there is the possibility of some marginal reductions in level crossing down time with future changes to signalling these are likely to be offset by increased trains, particularly freight.

"The level crossing will continue to be a major problem in the road network. To overcome this, both the railway and road network need to operate independently and this can only be achieved by revisiting the bridging of the railway.

"It rests with the county council to bring forward options to overcome this ever worsening problem in South Craven."

And Cllr Robert Heseltine scoffed at claims that the overall costs of bridging the road would prevent action.

"It's nothing to do with finance. Things seem to go ahead easily enough south of Watford. It's about political will.

"We have an MP who is a Cabinet minister who surely will have some influence."

But it would still be necessary to build a strong business case to ensure the infrastructure could cope. "There is no magic solution," said Cllr Patrick Mulligan.

Cllr David Ireton said: "It's a nightmare, there's no two ways about it and something needs to be done.

"There are times when the traffic doesn't clear before the gate is down again."

A study is already underway by Network Rail looking into ways of reducing the crossing down time. But the difference in time could be in seconds rather than minutes.