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A group of furious Harrogate residents are lodging their strongest complaints yet over what they say is the unhealthy muck and dust created by a wave of new housing in their crowded part of town.

So angry are members of Kingsley Ward Action Group at what they claim is the lack of protection from disruption to their roads and lives in the crowded corridor off Knaresborough Road, they are calling for open-topped construction wagons to be banned from their streets.

And, after nearly four years of non-stop building by an array of different developers involving more than 600 new houses, residents say they have secured the services of two legal firms who are going to give their time for free to deal with their claims that heavy lorries are causing dust, dirt and pollution risks to local residents.

A spokesperson for KWAG told the Harrogate Advertiser: "We are covered in unhealthy dust caused by open topped wagons and a lack of adequate wheel washing equipment on site.

Dust and dirt - Kingsley Ward Action Group claim house building is making life a misery for local residents in their part of Harrogate.

"These wagons have continuously polluted Kingsley Road over the last three or four years causing potential long term serious illness for the residents.

"But we cannot get Harrogate Borough Council to act on our complaints, so we have had no option but to seek legal advice.”

A spokesperson for Harrogate council said: "Under planning legislation, we are unable to ban open-topped construction vehicles.

"We have allocated a case officer to address the concerns relating to dust from HGVs entering and exiting the developments on Kingsley Road.

"We continue to raise the matter with the county council and developers and have reminded the latter of actions they must maintain as per the

conditions of the planning permission.

"We will continue to closely assess this situation to ensure they continue to do so."

All sides involved in the housing situation at Kingsley are convinced they have followed all possible procedures and processes.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire told the Harrogate Advertiser that the complaints over lorries was a matter of enforcement rules related to each development’s planning application handled by the district council.

As such, the county council says it has no control over enforcement issues.

On going to press the Harrogate Advertiser had sought comments from two of the housing developers in the Kingsley area – Redrow and Stonebridge.

Harrogate residents fury over unhealthy muck and dust as new housing developments continue to make their lives a misery