TWO charities which work with children are calling for a safe access road to be built to their centres, fearing the design of the new Yarnbrook-West Ashton Relief Road will put youngsters in danger.

The relief road will run 2.5km over fields between the A363 at Yarnbrook and Castle Lodge on the A350 past West Ashton.

The traffic lights at West Ashton crossroads and part of the A350 will be removed, and the current A350 heading towards Yarnbrook closed to through traffic.

Now leaders at both Larkrise Community Farm, on West Ashton Road, and the West Wiltshire District Scouts, whose base is in nearby Jubilee Wood, off the A350, have vowed to keep fighting until they get a safer access route.

“We are worried about the safety of children who come here,” said scouts chairman John Cox. “The traffic lights at Stoney Gutter and West Ashton give us breaks in the traffic. These will disappear as the traffic from Yarnbrook will have priority at the new roundabout.

“Our solution is to build a simple, relatively cheap track alongside the new road and inside the proposed development line, which we would share with Larkrise, to connect our entrance with the new roundabout (planned on the hillside).

“There were 15 accidents on this stretch of the A350 in the last five years.

“The developers have offered to move a hedge so that we have better visibility but the bend in the new road will mean that the distance we can see will reduce by two-thirds.

Councillors at a recent strategic planning meeting were sympathetic, but pointed out the road, due to be built in 2020, was already designed.

Susan Ann Bradbrooke, chairman of the trustees of Larkrise Farm, added: “We need action after campaigning on this for years. What about our children?”

“Turning in and out of the farm is perilous. We would like for there to be a box junction outside our entrance or a keep clear sign at least. We will keep fighting for this.”

The relief road will be built in 2020. This relief road is supporting the 2,500 homes, two primary schools and a secondary school that is earmarked to be built on land between West Ashton, North Bradley and Trowbridge.