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04
Oct 2024
Road closures cause ‘carnage’ around Kirkby Malzeard
The closure of two main routes through Kirkby Malzeard has caused chaos on roads, residents say.
Oliver and Sharon Hirst, who live in the village, today spoke to the Stray Ferret about the frustration felt in the village due to the impact of work being carried out on Main Street – where a drain is believed to have collapsed – and to fix a water leak on Church Street.
Yorkshire Water is behind both sets of works in the village, according to North Yorkshire Council’s roadworks map, but the map does not provide reasons.
A diversion is in place to access the village, which requires people to go either via Grewelthorpe or Laverton, but Mr and Ms Hirst said people have started taking matters into their own hands.
Back Lane, which runs parallel to Main Street, is a one-way road. It remains open during the work, but the couple said people have started “going down it the wrong way” to avoid the diversion. They told the Stray Ferret:
People are just driving the wrong way down a one-way road. There’s a sign part-way down it to tell people it’s one-way, but it’s just too late by the time you see it.
It also narrows to nothing. It's chaos.
Mrs Hirst added the diversion is “around 10 minutes”, but it requires motorists to drive on narrow, windy roads, adding:
You don’t really know what’s coming round the corner – like a huge tractor coming the other way.
Another Kirkby Malzeard resident today posted a photo of a tractor stuck on the narrow Back Lane, although this vehicle was driving the right way down the road.
In addition, on the road towards Laverton, Mr Hirst showed the Stray Ferret a photo of damage to a resident’s wall, which was hit by an HGV driver.
Both incidents are pictured in the featured image.
The couple could not verify if either incident is linked to the road closures in their own village, but they felt they could have been a “knock-on effect”.
'Adhere to signs'
The Hirsts told the Stray Ferret they would like to see more one-way signs on Back Lane – and emphasised people “need to adhere to them”.
They also bemoaned of intermittent water supplies at their house. They said the water “goes off for hours at a time” and they have experienced leaks since work started.
Ms Hirst said:
Really, we want a discount on our water bill. We pay our water bill and our road tax, yet we can barely use the road and barely have any water.
The couple are far from the only people to have expressed concern about what's happening in the village.
One person said on social media a car "drove into my dog" after travelling the wrong way down Back Lane. Another said they had a "stand-off" with a motorist trying to drive down Back Lane the wrong way.
The village woes look set to continue, as Yorkshire Water’s work on Main Street is not due to finish until December 6. It started nearly six weeks ago, on August 27.
The firm is due to complete the work on Church Street, which started last week, on October 18.
The Stray Ferret contacted both Yorkshire Water and North Yorkshire Council for comments. We will provide updates when they become available.
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