RESIDENTS of a remote village are demanding action to stop their community from being cut off for days at a time during the winter.

Thirty residents of Cotterdale, near Hawes, have signed a petition calling on North Yorkshire County Council to increase gritting along the road to the village.

Villagers want the road to become a priority two route, meaning it would be regularly gritted when temperatures plummet.

The petition states: "The road serving Cotterdale is one-and-half miles long, is exposed to the wilds of the weather, and has some difficult bends and hills along its route.

"In winter, the road is very often closed due to ice, frost or snow when the A684, to which it connects, remains open to traffic.

"This prevents members of our community from going to work or shop, or to access services, or go to school or college."

The villagers have won the support of county councillor John Blackie.

He said: "Cotterdale has happily regenerated itself over the last 20 years, and of the 14 houses in the settlement nine are now permanently occupied.

"In 1985, there were only four of these houses lived in around the yea,r with the remainder second homes or holiday cottages, or properties in a state of disrepair awaiting total renovation. Several of the families now living in Cotterdale have children and so, both as parents and youngsters, they require daily access in and out of the Dale for work and education, especially in the early morning and returning in the late afternoon."

Coun Blackie said the village was often cut off for days at a time during the winter. He said: "It appears there would be an opportunity to add a priority two deviation off the priority one route when the gritter returns from gritting up to the county border with Cumbria at the Moorcock Inn, just three miles further along the A684.

"Whilst this diversion would cause little inconvenience or lost timing in the logistics of winter gritting in upper Wensleydale, it would provide an essential lifeline to the community of Cotterdale."

Coun Blackie will raise the issue at a meeting of Richmondshire Area Committee, at Booth Hall, Catterick Village, next Thursday.