COUNCILLORS are planning on looking at getting the go-ahead to fund a pedestrian crossing on a dangerous stretch of road in Wellington – although previous attempts have fallen on deaf ears.

People have been asking for a crossing to be put in Waterloo Road by Wellington Methodist Church for years to help with safety.

But Somerset County Council has always rejected the requests because the proposed location was on a bend and would be hazardous for motorists.

Despite the frequent rejections, members of Wellington Town Council are still keen to get a crossing installed along that section of road.

Cllr John Thorne said: “Somerset County Council doesn’t want to put in a crossing there because it is on a bend, but they don’t seem to mind a lollipop patrol person being run over because they stand in the middle of the road there!

“The county council keep saying that we can’t do this and we can’t do that, but we don’t seem to challenge them enough.”

Cllr Thorne suggested they should get in touch with Skanska, the county council’s highways maintenance partner, to take a look at Waterloo Road and see what could be done.

“We should ask them to see if they can come up with a solution to this problem,” he said. “The issue we’ve got is getting people across from one side of the road to the other more safely.

“If they could design it – we could commission it.”

Deputy Mayor Cllr Mark Lithgow, said: “It’s important to have a crossing down there because it is so dangerous.

“We have been trying to get a crossing in there for 30 years and the traffic has increased over that time.

“We should do all we can and what we can to get one installed.”

But Cllr Vivienne Stock-Williams said: “If we installed a scheme not approved by Somerset County Council we would be liable for any accidents.”

Cllr Nick Smith added that more pedestrian crossings were needed in other parts of Wellington where new housing developments were being built.

Councillors were told they have up to £40,000 available in the council’s community services budget for the current financial year towards such a project, while money could also be available by development contributions known as Community Infrastructure Levy.

A further proposal has been put forward for a crossing at a suitable point between St John’s School and St John’s Church in Taunton Road, Wellington.