SAFETY improvements at a Keighley weir where a young boy was critically injured would cost a staggering quarter of a million pounds, it has been revealed.

But campaigners say they remain determined to reduce the dangers at the spot, where the eight-year-old child was seriously hurt while playing.

Keighley town councillor John Kirby called for urgent measures to be taken at North Beck's Tinker Bridge following the July 27 incident.

He said this week the "formidable" cost of safety work would have to be covered by the landowner, and that efforts so far to identify who the site belongs to had been unsuccessful.

"We're in a Catch 22 situation and right now there doesn't seem to be much we can do," he said.

"Also, there are two more weirs further down the beck, and if you alter the weir at Tinker Bridge would that mean that you'd have to make changes to those weirs as well? It's a minefield.

"A Bradford Council drainage engineer told me that dismantling the weir at Tinker Bridge might cause flooding further down if there is a heavy downpour."

Coun Kirby, who represents the town council's Laycock & Braithwaite ward, said that despite the setback he was still keen to find a way to lessen the risk of future accidents at Tinker Bridge.

"People might say that there have only been two accidents there in all these years, but it's still two too many," he added.

"Kids will be kids, and many of us who've grown up in that part of town have played down there, but if we can do something to make it safer we should."

Keighley West ward councillor, Jan Smithies, said she had attended a meeting at Tinker Bridge with representatives from the Aire Wharfe Rivers Trust.

"They said the weir is the owner's responsibility, but we seem to have two or three different views about who the owner is," she said. "It is proving quite hard to find this out.

"The estimate for the work that would need to be done is about £250,000, and there would need to be permission from the Environment Agency and the Rivers Authority.

"We've discussed this at a neighbourhood forum meeting, where there were mixed opinions.

"One view at the forum was 'what price a child's life?' But another view was that many local residents have played at this spot when they were children themselves, and in living memory there has only been one other accident there.

"We have to be careful not to over-react. Would this be the best thing to spend £250,000 on?"