LANCASHIRE County Council has been criticised for failing to carry out a proper assessment of the need for a pedestrian crossing on the A59 in Gisburn.

A report presented to Gisburn Parish Council’s March meeting highlighted the county council had not followed its own policies in the assessment process.

Gisburn parish councillor David Waters, who is author of the report and is leading the campaign for the crossing, said: “We wrote to the county council last July asking them to carry out an assessment of the need for a crossing. They said because there hadn’t been any accidents, Gisburn was not a priority.

“The county council has confirmed it uses the standard measure of the conflict between pedestrians and vehicles – which means they have to count the number and type of vehicles at the proposed location. They also have to count the number of pedestrians and take into account their vulnerability. There are other factors as well that they should consider but they have done none of this.

“Instead, they have based their decision solely on accident statistics and a lack of funding, and that is not satisfactory,” said Cllr Waters. “Do we have to wait until someone is killed or seriously injured before we get a crossing on this dangerous road? What price would they put on a life?”

After a parish council petition was presented to the LCC, Maggie Isherwood of LCC Highways said: “As a highway authority, we have a finite budget for traffic related schemes and a responsibility to prioritise our resources to best serve road users in Lancashire. The priority is to target locations with proven road safety issues which is determined by significant numbers of injury accidents. Currently the A59 in Gisburn has a good safety record with no recorded collisions involving pedestrians.”

Cllr Waters said: “We acknowledge that due to government cuts the county council faces significant financial pressures. However, we have shown in the report how a pedestrian crossing can be cost-neutral. Department for Transport figures for 2016 show the value of preventing just one injury accident is around £60,000. That’s the same as the cost of a light-controlled pedestrian crossing.

“Furthermore, a crossing could be paid for from additional county council revenue from new housing developments in the village. This will give them an extra £45,000 a year in council tax and a further £40,000 through its share of the government’s New Homes Bonus. This is more than sufficient to pay for a crossing.”

Cllr Waters added: “We have heard the pledges of support from our elected representatives and now we want to see some action.”