MOTORISTS will face further road misery in York next week when emergency traffic measures force the closure of one lane of the inner ring road.

Paragon Street and Barbican Road, between Fawcett Street (from the Fishergate Bar) and Lawrence Street, will become one-way as workers repair a large hole discovered under Cemetery Road.

City of York Council, which announced the news in an e-mail to the Evening Press today, has not yet confirmed when the essential works are to begin.

The hole, discovered while Yorkshire Water carried out sewer repairs, has prompted the introduction of the traffic measures, which council chiefs insist will come into force sometime early next week.

Last week, the Evening Press reported the long delays being faced by motorists on the A64 at Copmanthorope.

Because of those Highway Agency works, enormous volumes of traffic have instead been using the A19 south and coming through Fulford and the inner-ring road to beat the congestion.

In response to this, the council has decided to close one lane of the ring road from Fawcett Street, at Fishergate Bar, to Lawrence Street, in front of the Barbican.

Further measures will also be in place, making Green Dykes Lane one way downhill between Devon Place and Hull Road, except for buses.

Peter Evely, head of highways, said: "The A64 roadworks have meant this emergency could not have come at a worse time.

"To keep essential traffic moving, particularly the bus services, we have to reduce the amount of traffic using the Fishergate gyratory.

"These measures will help ease pressure on the gyratory and allow

the 600 vehicles an hour that now use Cemetery Road to be accommodated without clogging up local residential roads.

"Drivers should plan their journeys carefully if they are intending to travel in this area and we would urge everyone to be patient."

York's Liberal Democrats today reacted angrily to the announcement, and say they were not consulted about it.

Councillor Ann Reid said: "While we recognise that no-one could have anticipated that a large hole was going to be found, handling the resulting problems should be done in a sensitive way.

"There appears to have been no consultation as to the best way to handle the resulting problems.

"There will be many businesses and residents directly affected by the repair work on Cemetery Road, but also further away because of the emergency one-way system."

The group has called for a report on the situation at its shadow executive meeting on Tuesday.

For further details of the traffic situation see Monday's Evening Press.

Updated: 12:50 Saturday, October 20, 2001