CHIPPENHAM NEWS: A DECISION to replace a paving stone surface in historic Corsham town centre with tarmac in a road safety scheme may be reversed.

Work began at the end of May to improve the zebra crossing and widen footways in Pickwick Road, Corsham, to make it safer for schoolchildren and shoppers.

The work was delayed when £10,000 of uncut paving stone, due to be laid on the pavements, was stolen from the back of a lorry in June.

Then Corsham Town Council was told tarmac would be put down instead.

At a council meeting on Monday the chairman of Corsham Town Council, Jock Fraser, said: "I think this is absolutely diabolical that we are getting tarmac after we were promised paving and contributed out of our budget to have adequate paving there."

An email from the county council on August 2 said: "As soon as they (the suppliers) realised North Wiltshire District Council was involved they wanted all their payment up front."

This, the email explained, was because there had been problems in the past with payment being received from the district council.

A spokesman for Wiltshire County Council said a decision was made to put tarmac down after there was a difficulty with the supply of paving stones and it was thought it would take months to get the materials from another supplier.

But on Wednesday the spokesman said: "We are talking to the town and district councils about the possibility of getting stone put down."

The scheme was designed to improve the safety of the Pickwick Road crossing, where there were six accidents between January 2000 and June 2003 alone.

Cllr Peter Davis is concerned about the safety of one part of the scheme, a build out at the junction of Newlands Road and Pickwick Road which he says forces large vehicles onto the other side of the road, posing a threat to pedestrians.

He said: "The new curb stones are already breaking up as a result of vehicles driving over them.

"If a child is standing on what they think is a pedestrian area and a vehicle drives over the top of it that is not improving safety, that is making it worse."

Corsham Town Council has asked Wiltshire County Council to tackle the problem before the scheme is completed.