FOUR options to improve access to a Richmond industrial estate have been rejected.

Concern about the amount of traffic using roads to the Gallowfields industrial estate has been expressed for years.

Residents say their streets are being used as rat-runs and heavy lorries struggle with the tight turns on roads to the site.

In an attempt to find a solution, North Yorkshire County Council put forward four alternative access routes, including one from Whashton Road and three from Hurgill Road.

But a report into the options by Richmondshire District Council said all four had significant shortcomings.

Council officers said the new roads would damage the environment and not improve traffic congestion around the rest of Richmond.

Instead, the council has recommended improvements should be made to Green Howards Road.

The council report said: "There would be considerable merit in providing a traffic route to the estate, that would support its continued role as a source of economic prosperity.

"Ideally, a new road would make the estate more attractive and would remove traffic, which has an impact on residential areas of the town.

"The most direct and therefore potentially beneficial approach would be an improvement of Green Howards Road, albeit with mayor engineering problems.

"This would seem to offer the only prospect of an approach to the estate that may be sufficiently attractive to reduce the rat-running on Quarry Road."

The report also recommends a study into traffic calming measures in Quarry Road to find out if they are working.

Officers said the district council did not have enough money to make a significant contribution to any work carried out by the county council.

The issue will be discussed at a Richmondshire District Council meeting on Tuesday.