FURIOUS Wirehill residents are demanding a county council U-turn over a planning decision they say will cost someone their life.
Householders have hit out at the plan which would change the traffic priority on Nine Days Lane forcing drivers coming down the steep hill to ‘give way’ at the bottom.
Priority will go instead to motorists going to and from the new 131 house estate and office site to be built at the back of the Alexandra Hospital.
And locals are so angry they’ve formed a residents association to fight the proposals.
“This steep and winding section of the road is north facing and almost always wet during the winter,” said its chairman Bob Price.
“When temperatures fall it becomes a sheet of ice because the road is rarely gritted.
“Sometimes the only way you can navigate your way to the bottom is to deliberately steer your car into the kerb to stop it sliding uncontrollably to the bottom and across what will become a busy road.
“Most people with any commonsense can see this will inevitably lead to serious accidents. We just can’t understand why the Worcestershire Highways Authority can be so blind and ignore this serious public safety issue.”
The decision to change road priorities was taken by Worcestershire County Council highways officers but campaigners have won backing from local county councillor Joe Baker (Lab, Arrow Valley East) to get the move reversed.
“The corner in Nine Days Lane where they turn is already quite dangerous so with extra traffic and the change in priority it really is an accident waiting to happen.
“This is a highways issue and I would encourage the county council to look at this again.”
Residents have been meeting with the developer, David Wilson Homes, but believe the change of priority idea came from County Hall.
County councillor Marcus Hart, Cabinet member with responsibility for highways said: “Worcestershire County Council, as highways authority, was asked to review this application as part of our statutory obligations. The review concluded that the proposal to change the junction priority was acceptable and made our representation to Redditch BC on that basis. We will consider any petition once it is submitted.”
