A FIGHT to get a pedestrian crossing installed on a 'dangerous' road near Malvern Splash Leisure Complex has been abandoned.

Adrian Thomas, who set up a petition to get the controlled pedestrian crossing installed, decided to back down with a 'sad heart but a clear conscious' after Worcestershire County Council said it did not intend to proceed further with plans for one. 

The authority cited a lack of funds and no reported accidents in the area over the past five years as reasons not to move forward but said it would continue to monitor the situation and look at the area with fresh data in around six months.  

Mr Thomas said he was 'hugely concerned' about the dangers of the road between the Malvern Splash Leisure Complex and the two opposite car parks after seeing at least three near misses where children could have been hit by cars. 

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A petition to install the crossing on the road, which he dubbed an 'accident waiting to happen', gained over 330 signatures. 

Mr Thomas contacted Cllr Marc Bayliss, the cabinet member for Highways and Transport at Worcestershire County Council, to see if the bid could move forward.

A response on Cllr Bayliss's behalf, seen by the Gazette, said the authority considered accident data to count against this bid as there had been no reported accidents in the past five years on that road. 

The response added there were no funds available either from member contributions or cash that could be obtained from a nearby planning development. 

The email said the typical cost of a signal-controlled crossing would be in the region of £200,000, while a zebra crossing would cost between £80,000 and £100,000. 

Mr Thomas said: "If there is no heart from the highways department to take this further, then I must give up this fight with a sad heart but a clear conscious. 

"I am disappointed my initial idea for a simple low-cost painted zebra crossing cannot be put into action due to a distance ruling and do not understand the logic but it’s in their rule book.

"Everyone who has signed the petition agreed a crossing makes total sense and the only ones who do not seem to agree are those who can make it happen, but unfortunately prevention rather than cure is not standard policy.” 

The email sent to Mr Thomas added if at a future time funding were to become available, and the request was supported by the local member, it may be able to look at the situation again.

Mr Thomas added: "I understand life is bound by rules and I cannot change those, so will have to leave the crossing plans to the highways department to monitor and hopefully in that time no person or child will be injured crossing from the car parks”.