HIGHWAYS chiefs have rejected calls for a roundabout to replace temporary traffic lights which are causing havoc for Pershore residents.
Last month disgruntled residents handed in a petition to highways chiefs at Worcestershire County Council calling on them to install a roundabout at the Station Road and Wyre Road junction where the new housing estate is being built.
Drivers have been faced with long delays as a result of the temporary traffic lights and this looks set to continue after the County Council said replacing them with a roundabout was ‘not a feasible option.’
The temporary lights have been in place since the developer of the new housing estate, Persimmon Homes, created a new access road onto the site off the junction.
As part of the developer being granted planning permission for the estate, Persimmon is required to install permanent traffic lights to replace the temporary ones.
Coun Ken Pollock, cabinet member for Economy and Infrastructure, said: “We understand the frustrations of residents who have to use that stretch of road and find themselves sat in traffic waiting for the lights to change. This was made clear in the recent petition.
“However, the council considers that a four-way crossroad operation at Station Road/Wyre Road without temporary lights would be an unacceptable highway safety issue.
“This is due to the design deficiencies of the current layout and the unsuitability of this form of junction to cater for the volumes of traffic negotiating the junction, especially at peak times.
“Therefore, although the council recognises the inconvenience the temporary traffic lights impose on the users of the road, it can’t support the removal of the temporary traffic signals even for an experimental period as this would create a highway safety danger.
“A standard sized roundabout is unsuitable as it would require land outside of the council’s control to make it possible and would be significantly more expensive to implement.”
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