A RESIDENT has slammed a public consultation exercise over traffic plans that could see motorists paying to use a York road.

Christine Dinsdale criticised the lack of time people have been given to vote on any Heslington traffic shake-up.

She also hit out at the council for apparently not delivering leaflets to a wider area outside Heslington.

Mrs Dinsdale, of Fordlands Road, Fulford, spoke after not receiving a leaflet - hand-delivered by the council at the end of last week.

The feedback form includes four options to manage increased Heslington Lane traffic, if York University's plans to build a massive new Heslington East campus get the nod from the council.

The voting options are: do nothing; close the road using bollards near Goodricke College to all traffic; close the road near the college to all traffic except a yet-to-be defined group of residents or - most controversially - impose a toll in the region of £2. If introduced, this would be among the first congestion charges outside London.

But Mrs Dinsdale said: "I didn't know anything about this until somebody told me on Thursday. There's a public exhibition tomorrow, but this is not giving people enough notice about that.

"Residents in Hull Road, Fulford and Osbaldwick should have received leaflets."

She also criticised the deadline of April 26 for returned forms asking residents which option they should plump for.

"The notice is far too short especially for something that will have a huge impact in the area. I don't want any of the options, but people should have been given more than a few days warning."

She said the university should use its land to build a new link road from the A64 and leave established routes alone.

Councillor Ann Reid, transport executive member for City of York Council, said a decision was made not to consult the whole of Fulford.

"Boundaries were drawn to consult people directly affected. A lot of commuters use Heslington Lane as a rat-run and can use alternative routes."

She said everyone was welcome to make comments about the proposals. If it looked like people were being excluded, the deadline may be moved.

The public exhibition, between 10am and 4pm, will be held at Fairways Garden Centre, Heslington Lane.

Updated: 09:23 Monday, April 12, 2004