A PUBLIC meeting is to be called to press the case for a relief road serving three communities facing mounting traffic problems.

The move by Bedale Town Council follows a warning last month by a senior county councillor that plans for the road that would remove 60 per cent of through traffic from Bedale, Aiskew and Leeming Bar are struggling to survive through lack of funding.

Councillors hope they can put the plans back at the top of the agenda by inviting to the public meeting local MPs and interested parties including hauliers who face problems with large lorries at a difficult staggered junction at Bridge Street, South End, Sussex Street and Market Place in the centre of Bedale.

The move comes as county councillors prepare for a meeting at which they will be recommended to approve proposals for traffic lights at the junction. However, some residents fear this could cause more noise and exhaust pollution, reduce parking spaces and lead to side streets being used as "rat-runs" by frustrated motorists.

The three-mile relief road has been on the drawing board at the county council for 13 years but, although a planning application has been prepared, further work has been suspended because the project is not considered a priority for funding from the Department for Transport through a regional transport board. The estimated cost has risen to £26m.

The road is designed to run through a new interchange at Leeming Bar when the A1 is upgraded to motorway standard between Dishforth and Barton. The county council has been trying to convince transport ministers that it would be more cost effective to undertake both projects simultaneously.

The idea for a public meeting came from town councillor Mike Batty, who said: "We need to get this right back on top of the agenda and we need to be looking at all the high-profile people like MPs and the new minister for Yorkshire and the Humber.

"Easingwold, Ripon and Thirsk have all got bypasses, but when it comes to Bedale it gets knocked back time after time. We need to hammer at this and keep this pot on the boil."

Plans for traffic lights and realignment of the junction around buildings will be discussed by the county council committee for Hambleton on Monday at 2pm at Helperby Village Hall, near Boroughbridge.

Depending on local consultations, the council hopes the scheme can be implemented in this financial year but the cost is now estimated at £230,000