RESIDENTS have won their battle to stop drivers using their roads as rat runs.

By using Borrage Lane and High Cleugh, in Ripon, drivers have been avoiding hold-ups at traffic lights near the city centre.

But residents have been concerned about speeding traffic on their narrow roads.

North Yorkshire county councillors have voted to solve the problem by erecting bollards between High Cleugh and Borrage Lane, effectively creating two cul-de-sacs.

Previously, access-only signs had been installed but drivers ignored them.

When the county council consulted local residents, 25 backed the traffic ban while 16 objected.

But in addition, a 55-strong petition, signed mainly by people in nearby Borrage Lane and High Cleugh, supported the ban.

Ripon city councilor Peter Horton, objecting to the ban, said his council represented interests of people all over the city - not just the residents of one road.

"I am sure we would all like to create no-go areas around our houses. But you cannot turn every public street into some private thoroughfare," he said.

The city council opposed the ban and wanted to see a one-way system introduced, but North Yorkshire Police gave their backing to the cul-de-sac project and there was further support from Councillor Alan Skidmore, a Ripon member of Harrogate Borough Council.

Coun Skidmore said it had not been possible to enforce the access-only scheme and the situation was a fatality waiting to happen if nothing was done.

Councillors unanimously supported the installation of the bollards.