Campaigner Derek Little has taken his fight, to stop fuel tankers being driven through suburbs of Bristol, to neighbouring South Gloucestershire Council leaders.

The retired architect is heading efforts to send the lorries on a shorter route to the motorway network instead of being driven through places such as Blaise Hamlet, Henbury and Lawrence Weston.

Tankers that carry aviation fuel from a depot in Hallen to airports throughout the South West, including Bristol, can only travel that way because of a 7.5 tonne weight limit on a stretch of Severn Road. It was originally a temporary measure while the Second Severn Crossing was being built but was later made permanent.

If the restriction was lifted the lorries could be taken right instead of left from the depot and head towards Avonmouth and the motorways.

The road with the weight limit straddles the Bristol and South Gloucestershire boundary and Mr Little, 68, of Gleneagles Drive, Henbury, has already presented a petition to Bristol City Council.

He appealed to South Gloucestershire councillors to have the restriction lifted and handed in a 350-name petition supporting the banning of the tankers and other lorries from roads in North West Bristol.

Mr Little told a meeting of the full council: "The temporary weight limit on Severn Road can no longer be justified. Before the permanent order was confirmed in 1996, it was stated that 'suitable alternative routes for heavy traffic are available using motorway or A-class roads'. That statement was nonsense."

Mr Little told councillors the Department for Transport was willing to attend a meeting to help both South Gloucestershire and Bristol councils find a solution and the campaign had the support of the Road Haulage Association and the tanker drivers.

He said: "New developments in Avonmouth and Severn Beach are causing a steady increase in traffic flow. The larger population of North West Bristol is at risk. There are no schools in Hallen but there are four in Henbury alone.

"You cannot continue to condemn more than 1,500 Henbury schoolchildren to risky journeys five days a week. You cannot continue to condemn tanker drivers to increasingly stressful journeys."

Up to 18 tankers a day use the depot in the winter, and this increases to as many as 30 in the summer, and Mr Little said it would be better for them to reach the motorways by a more direct route.

Brian Allinson, South Gloucestershire's executive councillor for transport, told Mr Little: "This is clearly a matter of importance to people of South Gloucestershire and Bristol. I have asked my department to look at it and will ensure you get a full answer as soon as possible."

But householders in Hallen are likely to fight to keep the limit in place for their own safety. The road dissects the village and is notorious for speeding vehicles.

Most of the fuel at Hallen is pumped underground to Walton-on-Thames, from where it is piped to Heathrow. But lorries are used to take supplies to airports throughout the South West.