By Jenny Barwise

Last updated at 11:37, Friday, 10 August 2012

Opponents of a huge housing scheme fear hundreds of extra cars could turn roads near their homes into death-traps.

Final approval has been granted for 150 homes to be built at Stainburn, Workington.

But measures aimed at cutting traffic pressures have done nothing to ease concerns of those against the development. They still have severe worries that streets, including Moor Road, will become danger zones.

The housing plans, for land off Moor Road, by Cumbrian construction company Story Homesgot the final go-ahead this week when the developers signed a legal document pledging to plough tens of thousands of pounds into traffic calming measures.

These include £6,000 towards extending the 30mph speed limit onto Moor Road, £17,050 towards a new footpath and £27,050 towards traffic calming measures.

But Ann O’Neill, of Linden Walk, who has lived in the area for 35 years, feared it wouldn’t be long before there was an accident, or even worse, somebody was killed.

She said: “On a daily basis you’re forced off the road. You take your life in your own hands.

“What’s it going to be like in five year’s time? There is going to be an accident.

“The residents know the road but the people who are the danger drivers are the people who use it as a shortcut.”

Mrs O’Neill said that a lot of people, including schoolchildren, walked up the road to get to a bus stop and if a pathway was put in and reduced the width of the road, it wouldn’t be long before a car hits somebody.

Keith Dixon has lived on Moor Road for the past 20 years. He said that the road, which becomes a single carriageway as it nears the A595, was already unsuitable for the amount of traffic that used it.

“The only solution I can see is to make the road a one-way system. If you bring more cars down this road, it doesn’t matter what you do, it cannot be improved. It’s impossible to improve it.”

Luke Vile, 33, of Moorlands Drive, said: “It has shocked me. I don’t know how a path is going to be put down that road. It can’t be made safe.

“People are already cutting through Stainburn early in the mornings because there is a build up of cars on the bypass.

“Every time I drive down that road there is somebody walking. The road isn’t wide enough for two cars never mind putting a path in.

“I wouldn’t want to walk on that path because there’s nowhere for the cars to go. It can’t be made safe.”

Story Homes says it is committed to making its developments safe. The Stainburn scheme includes 30 affordable homes and more than seven times the amount of public space dictated by planning policy.

First published at 11:25, Friday, 10 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk