TEMPORARY traffic lights in Gargrave in place following last month’s fire at The Old Swan Inn will be removed ‘at the earliest opportunity’ says North Yorkshire highways.

Traffic queues have been building up though the village ever since the lights went up to allow work to take place safely to the pub, which was badly damaged in the fire.

James Malcolm, North Yorkshire County Council highways area manager, said: “Temporary traffic signals are in place in Gargrave High Street outside the Old Swan Inn to allow scaffolding to be erected to undertake repairs to the building following a fire a few weeks ago. Due to the narrow footway the scaffolding protrudes into the road and as it is on a bend there is a significant risk of vehicles colliding with the scaffolding under two way traffic flow.

“The only safe solution is for one way traffic flow past the site under temporary lights. West Road is also under light control and as there is minimal traffic movement out of the junction the green time for that arm is set to the minimum.

“Work to remove the roof is underway and the contractors are working to complete it as quickly as possible so that the scaffolding and the lights can be removed at the earliest opportunity. We will keep the public updated as work progresses.

“On Friday there was a loose wire in one of the signal heads which was affecting the operation of the signals. This signal head has been exchanged and the lights will now be working as programmed. There will be an operative on site between 7am and 7pm to manually control the lights when needed to manage the build-up of traffic queues as required.”