HEAVY lorries will soon be banned from using Laycock’s narrow main street as a rat-run.

A traffic regulation order approved by Keighley Area Committee is expected to be operational within weeks.

Action by the Bradford Council committee comes after years of misery for residents of the tiny village above Braithwaite.

In recent weeks alone there has been damage to walls, lampposts and signs as HGVs struggle to negotiate Laycock Lane.

One resident claims up to 30 lorries a day use the road to travel between Keighley and the moors, with routes leading to Sutton, Cowling and Colne.

The area committee agreed earlier this year to fund the traffic regulation order (TRO), which will stop HGVs using Laycock as a through route.

But ward councillor Adrian Farley has warned the ban will not stop lorries travelling to and from properties on the moor if there are no alternative access routes.

He said: “The problem with the TRO is it can’t preclude vehicles that have access. We can’t legally do anything about that.”

An update on the TRO was given this week by Bradford councillor Adrian Farley, who together with fellow Keighley West ward councillor, Jan Smithies, has long been campaigning against the lorries.

The two councillors returned to Laycock this week to assess recent damage caused by lorries, after residents renewed their concerns at a surgery last week.

Cllr Farley said: “Residents came to see us to explain the ongoing issues. One man has had damage in front of the houses.”

“Some stone planters have been driven over by the lorries. One of the walls is falling down.

“When Jan and I were up there on a previous occasion, lorries were pushing past street lighting and making contact with the lampposts, which were swaying.

“The size of these vehicles is ludicrous. It’s difficult to know where they are going. If two vehicles approach at the same time in opposite directions it’s chaos.

Cllr Farley hopes work on a moorland farm will soon finish, reducing the number of lorries making deliveries, or that the landowner builds an alternative access that connects with a road away from Laycock.

Residents have also complained about lorries being directed along Laycock Lane by sat navs in recent years.