Councillors in Steeton are concerned that plans for a new 220-home development at Thornhill Road could cause traffic jams in the village.

Last week, Steeton-with-Eastburn Parish Council carried out its own traffic survey at the junction of Skipton Road and Thornhill Road, which would be used as the main access for the development.

Councillors armed with tally counters counted 2,000 cars passing through the junction during a busy two-and-a-half-hour period last Wednesday morning.

They also surveyed traffic over a three-hour period in the afternoon.

Coun Roger Lambert said: “We want to make Steeton a better place to live, and the aspect of this huge scheme that most concerns us is the traffic.

“There’s no way that you can have 20 more cars backing up on to Thornhill Road. It’ll jam up the road.”

Coun Lambert also said the parish council had conducted its own traffic survey because of concerns about a transport assessment used by the developer, Redrow Homes.

“Their assumption makes no recognition of the standing traffic that occurs at various times of day,” said Coun Lambert. “They may have underestimated the number of cars using the road.”

Coun David Mullen, chairman of Steeton-with-Eastburn Parish Council, said that between 7am and 9.30am last Wednesday there was consistent build-up of Keighley-bound traffic on Skipton Road that queued from Station Road to Airedale Hospital for a period of 75 minutes.

“What we want to do is get evidence on what we already knew anecdotally,” said Coun Mullen. “We want to see how our figures stack up with those used by the developer.

“They’ve said that, because of the economic climate, traffic has decreased, but if anything it has increased.”

Coun Mullen said that 220 more houses would increase the size of the village by 15 per cent.

“The schools are full, the doctors’ surgery is full and there are not many shops, which means that people will have to go out of the village to shop.

“It’s a given that these houses are going to be built, but what the parish council and residents want is that this will sit comfortably in Steeton.”

At a council meeting held earlier this month, members recommended refusal of the application on the grounds that the documents supplied with the plan did not provide enough information to make an informed recommendation.

A spokesman for Redrow Homes said: “This is land already approved for residential development, including the access.

“Local businesses should benefit from an influx of new home-owners and our development will also create much-needed jobs in construction and beyond.”