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HOO Road residents in Kidderminster are less than a month away from losing a £100,000 tax-free gift. The Conservative-run county council seems determined to prevent them from getting it.

Five years ago, the developers of over 100 houses on the former Kidderminster College site agreed to set aside the money for traffic-calming measures to alleviate residents' fears of increased congestion.

Under planning law, there was a five-year limit on taking up that offer, yet for years there was silence from the county council over how the money would be spent.

Liberal Democrat district councillors, Helen and Peter Dyke of Aggborough and Spennells joined residents in repeated requests for consultation over the plans to spend the money.

The county council said that such a small sum required no public consultation and that they would spend it as they felt. But nothing happened until Councillors Dyke persuaded them to display their plans at Hoo Road Scout hut on November 27 last year - just seven months short of the deadline.

According to the residents, the plan was a nightmare, more suited to a go-kart track than a residential street. It was a motorist's assault course of chicanes and roundabouts at every junction.

The plan they offered pleased neither the developers nor the residents and was promptly rejected. Since then, they have done nothing and the money looks set to be lost.

It may be that the county council have still got plans which they don't wish to disclose to the residents or local councillors but they are rapidly running out of time.

Residents spoken to by Peter and Helen Dyke and I, feel that the county deliberately designed the plan to be rejected so they could get out of doing any work. True or not, it seems ridiculous to wait until the last minute in this way.

Could I suggest that before the money slips from their grasp, they place two or three solar-powered, vehicle-activated "SLOW DOWN" signs in either direction and a speed camera either side of the blind spot on the railway bridge.

This simple set of aids won't impede the residents who know the road and want a smooth journey from one end to the other.

It probably won't cost anywhere near the £100,000 and could be installed in a matter of days. Most of all, it might slow down a few maniacs before they kill someone.

NEVILLE FARMER Wyre Forest Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman

2:30pm Wednesday 7th May 2008

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