15798/1PEOPLE living in Drews Park Village, the former Roundway Hospital site, fear an accident on the only access road could leave them stranded.

The residents are so concerned about the road from the junction of Byron Road and Green Lane they have presented a petition with 121 names to both Kennet District Council and Wiltshire County Council.

Gail Nugent, a spokesman for the Drews Park Residents' Association, said: "They have left us with a very dangerous road here. The access to our homes is now along a very narrow road, with a blind bend and no road markings."

Association members lost their battle against the closure of the Pans Lane end of Byron Road, the main spine road through the estate.

Although they were not made aware of it, it was a condition of planning permission for the conversion of the former hospital to homes.

The Pans Lane link was closed on July 1 last year for all traffic except buses, emergency vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. Residents now have to drive into town along Marshall Road and into Nursteed Road.

Mrs Nugent said: "We accepted that we lost that battle and we are resigned to taking the long way round if we need to take our cars.

"But we have been left with a very dangerous situation here. A car coming out of Byron Road would not be able to see what is coming the other way because of the huge tree there, and cars coming in the opposite direction tend to cut the corner because there are no road markings.

"They say there is access for emergency vehicles but I can't see that working. Will every emergency car have a key to the gate?"

The situation could be made worse if planning permission is granted for 50 flats and 18 houses on the site of the former Katherine McNeile Clinic, which is close to the corner.

Residents feel there could be up to another 100 cars using the junction each day if permission is granted, possibly parking along the narrow road and making it even more hazardous than it is at present.

Pat Rugg, county councillor for Devizes South and Bromham as well as a Roundway parish councillor, said she and her fellow councillors would have to look carefully at the situation.

She said: "It is a difficult one. I don't want to see any trees chopped down, but it has got to be looked at."

Kennet councillor Katherine Callow said she would take up the residents' concerns about the safety of the junction.

The petition calls for:

The tree on the corner of Byron Road to be cut back

Byron Road to be widened at the junction with proper road markings or a mini-roundabout

Yellow lines to be put on Green Lane and Byron Road when the roads are formally adopted

The access to the new clinic development to be relocated to the lower part of Green Lane

Sufficient parking on the clinic site for residents and visitors.

A district council spokesman said developers are restricted to no more than 102 car parking spaces on the development.