TWO long-awaited bypasses have been put forward for a major North Yorkshire transport blueprint.

Despite suggestions that Government funding is unlikely to be given for Killinghall bypass, on the A61 Ripon-Harrogate road, and Spofforth, between Harrogate and Wetherby, members of North Yorkshire County Council's Harrogate area committee voted for them to be included.

They will now be considered by the county council's executive.

The Draft Local Transport Plan will run from next year to 2011, but had not included Killinghall and Spofforth because of suggestions from a Government official that they were unlikely to succeed.

Killinghall has been waiting for its bypass for nearly 70 years, while Spofforth is said to have clocked up more than 60 years of waiting in the wings, being described as a village under traffic siege.

Brian Dunsby, chief executive of Harrogate Chamber of Trade and Commerce, told the meeting Killinghall bypass could play a strategic role linking with other key roads in the area.

He said it was vital the scheme was included. It was far more than just a village bypass, but recognised as a main strategic route.

Meanwhile, Councillor Cliff Trotter (Pannal) spoke up for the long-awaited Spofforth bypass to be included in North Yorkshire's plans. He said the community had already waited far too long for the road and it was unfair to keep it on a reserve list.

In both cases, council highway chiefs said the roads were unlikely to receive funding because of the new stance on financing "village bypasses".