MAJOR improvements to a busy Wharfedale crossroads look set to begin this summer.

Leeds City Council has been consulting for some time on plans to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow at the Dyneley Arms junction, where the A660 meets the A658.

It made a number of changes to the £2.5 million proposals last year after receiving more than 220 responses from the public - many of them containing criticisms, not least over its cost.

The work was pencilled in to start in April, 2020 but that was before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Now the council has announced that further amendments have been made - with the estimated cost reduced to £2 million.

The scheme will now include:

*A right turn lane on the A660 from Otley towards Leeds Bradford Airport

*Adding a shared foot / cycle way on the A658 on the approach to the junction from Pool-in-Wharfedale

*A right turn lane on the approach to the signals from Pool towards Otley

*Pedestrian crossings on the A660 Leeds Road and A658 Pool Bank to improves safety for bus passengers.

Signal phasing at the junction will also be updated to allow traffic coming from the Leeds direction to turn right, towards Pool, ‘without impediment’.

If its final business case is approved the authority is aiming for the work to begin in late summer and to be completed in early 2021.

Councillor Barry Anderson (Con, Adel & Wharfedale) said: “I broadly welcome the changes and I am pleased that the people who responded to the consultation have been listened to.

“It’s a definite improvement on the previous plans. A lot of residents felt this scheme was not a good use of public funds but nothing else has been proposed and something needs to be done.”

He also voiced concerns, however, about the risk of HGVs potentially getting ‘stranded’ in the right turn lanes.