CONCERNED residents fear a child could be seriously injured or killed on York’s Derwenthorpe development if heavy vehicles continue to use the same route to a construction site.

Residents who live on the development near Osbaldwick are worried about the potential dangers of construction vehicles travelling along their roads, where many families live, to reach the latest stage of the development, known as phase four.

Work has already got under way on this latest phase and construction vehicles heading for the site are using Fifth Avenue and Derwent Way to access it.

The Derwenthorpe Residents’ Association says vehicles need to use an alternative route to the site to reduce the risk of an accident.

Ray Walker, co-chairman of the association, said: “It is a disaster waiting to happen.

“There are lots of young families who have moved in on Derwenthorpe. Children are all over the place on their bikes and having a good time.

“We have massive construction vehicles coming through and with the summer holidays coming up, we are very concerned that this is not the right way to access phase four.”

Mr Walker says there is a much safer and shorter alternative.

He said: “The association wants to see construction traffic routed through Meadlands and not along Fifth Avenue and Derwent Way.

“Meadlands is immediately adjacent to phase four and access by this route would be by far the shortest. Meadlands is much more suitable as it is two lanes throughout, all houses have substantial drives and all bar one house has a garage.”

He added: “We are aware that construction traffic into Meadlands would pass Applefields School but most children to that school arrive by minibus whereas the Fifth Avenue and Derwent Way access route passes within yards of St Aelred’s Primary School, where children arrive on foot, bike and by car.”

Joel Owen, deputy director for development and asset management at Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT), which is behind the project, said: “The route for construction traffic to phase four of Derwenthorpe was decided by the City of York Council’s highways department and the independent Planning Inspectorate, who hold the power to make the decisions about the best routes as part of the planning process.

“However, we recognise and understand the disruption and inconvenience construction traffic can cause. We have ensured there is signage along Fifth Avenue and within Derwenthorpe asking construction drivers to take extra care and to slow down.

“We have also worked with local residents and St Aelred’s Primary School to raise awareness of road safety. We also advise construction traffic to avoid making deliveries during school drop- off and pick-up hours.”

Osbaldwick Independent councillor Mark Warters said it would be unfair to direct the construction vehicles through Meadlands.

He said: “From my point of view residents of Derwenthorpe have chosen to live on a building site and the residents of Meadlands should not have construction traffic imposed on them to alleviate the entirely foreseeable consequences of JRHT not building the development in a sensible manner, as was pointed out to them many times in the past.”

The Derwenthorpe development will feature about 500 houses when it is complete.

A spokesperson for City of York Council said: "All matters regarding construction access were carefully considered and approved through the planning consent and planning inquiry, with Fifth Avenue being the primary site access for the development. This was for a number of reasons, including the proximity of Fifth Avenue to the strategic road network thus avoiding construction traffic having to pass a number of residential areas and schools.

“The internal highway from Fifth Avenue (Derwent Way) has been designed to naturally constrain vehicle speeds (to 20mph or below) through the use of localised pinch points, managed on-street parking and building alignment.

“This route continues to be considered appropriate for the construction traffic. As Derwent Way is presently under the control of the developer it is within their gift to impose temporary measures aimed at ensuring that construction traffic regulates itself and drivers take appropriate caution when working in a residential environment. As part of earlier works temporary traffic calming measures were installed and this could be introduced at other locations, with agreement of the developer.”