RESIDENTS are furious after the county council pulled potential plans to introduce parking restrictions on a “dangerous and problematic” road after years of campaigning for changes.

Worcestershire highways opened a public consultation in relation to restricting parking times in and around Topham Avenue in The Harleys area of Warndon Villages, but only received 19 formal approvals so scrapped the idea.

Resident Grant Hughes said the road is an “accident waiting to happen” while emergency vehicles “would have no chance of getting thorough and lives could be lost”.

He said the congested parking forces motorists “into on-coming traffic” as the road is effectively now one-way, with a neighbour’s child apparently almost struck by a blind-sided car while on her bicycle last month.

Referring to the consultation, which ended in March, Mr Hughes said: “I have already complained to highways many times and did not expect to have to write in and approve about something we have been asking for for years.”

The council’s proposal was to prohibit on-street parking for one hour between 11am and midday on weekdays, which would be delineated by a single yellow line where there is no restriction.

Mr Hughes said while the restriction was a good start, the council ultimately “needs to provide affordable, environmentally-friendly parking” as staff from nearby businesses and the hospital are adding to the congestion.

He said residents “are determined to not let this go or let the council off the hook”. Adding: “We need action”.

County councillor Andy Roberts, who represents Warndon, said he shares Mr Hughes “frustrations”.

He said: “It’s hard to know why the level of response was so disappointing. Many of the letters went the way of junk mail but the notices were very obvious.”

The councillor, cabinet member for children and families, said he posted 970 of his own letters informing people they needed to respond to the consultation and how to do it.

“It is possible that those putting messages on social media sites thought that these could be taken into account and others seeing the responses thought there was no need to get involved,” he continued.

Cllr Roberts hoped there wasn’t an “organised effort to derail the proposals, as they provided a good basis from which a satisfactory scheme could have evolved”.

“In view of my safety concerns I have met with the highways officer to explore the design of a scheme to improve matters, though there are concerns about displacing the problem elsewhere.”

The county council did not provide a comment before we went to print.