CONCERNS have been raised that a pedestrian could be seriously injured following changes to a road junction in Norton.

Alterations were made to the Church Street following resurfacing work in December giving priority to traffic travelling in Welham Road which has received mixed reactions from local people.

Clarey Rawling, who lives in St Nicholas Street, said the alteration of the junction had resulted in large increase in traffic in the road.

“There was no notification of the likely consequences for other parts of Norton following the level crossing road changes,” he added.

“As a result more and more people are using St Nicholas Street, rather than negotiate the Church Street junction leaving a backlog of waiting traffic, particularly at peak times, which then turn right onto Welham Road.

"I would have thought this particularly dangerous considering the vehicle access to Lidl is almost that of a crossroads.”

Mr Rawling, who has written to North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) and Norton Town Council said: “At some previous time the county councilthought that St Nicholas Street was carrying too heavy a burden of lorries and restricted access to 7.5 tonnes.

“I believe that the introduction of a 20 mph limit would help as lots of vehicles are travelling at high speeds and several of my neighbours have commented on this as well.

"Also I have not seen any police or officials monitoring the situation as I am sure the introduction of vehicle counting measures would confirm the increase in traffic.”

Norton town councillor David-Lloyd Williams, said: “The speed of vehicles travelling along St Nicholas Street is dangerous and someone is going to be injured soon.

"I totally agree with what Mr Rawling is saying and the town council needs to take this up with the county council.”

A spokesperson for NYCC, said: “The Council takes concerns about speeding motorists very seriously and has developed a speed management protocol for assessing and responding to speeding complaints.

"In addition, the County Council is aware that the Department for Transport (DfT) has commissioned a major research study which will be considering the evidence associated with area-wide 20mph limits and their costs and benefits in urban and rural areas and will be reviewing its approach to such limits once the study is concluded."