A ROAD safety scheme proposed by Wiltshire County Council could put pedestrians in more danger, Pewsey parish councillors fear.

The parish council has been demanding improvements for Wilcot Road for several years.

The road carries all the traffic to Pewsey Vale School and Pewsey Primary School and the village's Leisure Centre and swimming pool, as well as traffic between Pewsey and Devizes including lorries and buses.

The road between Rawlins Road and the A345 Marlborough road is narrow and the high banks on both sides rule out any possibility of a pavement.

Traffic has increased following the redevelopment of the former hospital and the county council has installed traffic lights on the skew railway bridge.

By the time development finishes at the top end of Wilcot Road there will be hundreds of new homes.

The latest scheme put forward by the county council after consultation with parish councillors, is for a green surface on both sides of the road between Rawlins Road and the A345 to mark pedestrian walkways.

Three raised cushions are also proposed along the same section of road to slow down traffic.

At the upper end of the road, between Rawlins Road and the railway bridge, the plan includes a pavement on the pub side of the road.

New bollards proposed at the school entrance would allow vehicles heading for the junior school to make direct access without having to swing round the car park for the comprehensive school and leisure centre.

Coun Lee Grafton was the first of several councillors who said the proposed safety proposals for the lower end of the road would create more danger than at present.

He said: "The green paths would lead to pedestrians feeling safe when they will not be."

Coun Glyn Evans said he would not like to walk that stretch of road at a point where two cars were trying to pass, because the green markings would not give pedestrians priority.

Coun John Cooke said he believed the proposed green markings would encourage more people to use the unsafe stretch of road.

He said: "I feel it might encourage more to use that road which so many people already feel is a death trap.

"If you are not careful you will be encouraging school children to walk down that piece of road rather than going round through the estate."

Coun Wendy Hughes said there was a path running behind the properties on the lower side of Wilcot Road but it was rutted and unlit so there was no encouragement for pedestrians to use it.

Coun Ann Hayhoe was angry that the scheme did not include a one-way system for the lower part of Wilcot Road, but clerk, Lindsay Mason, said the county council did not think this was workable."

Chairman, Coun Alex Carder, said that with many more homes proposed on the old hospital site it was vital that Wilcot Road was made safer without any further delays. "We need a one-way system which would enable a proper pavement to be built."

Coun Hayhoe said that during talks with the highways engineers the installation of chicanes to reduce the speed of traffic had been discussed, but had not been included.

The parish council agreed to press highways engineers to come up with alternative improvement schemes.