TWO city railway crossings look set to be closed for another three years after a spate of anti-social behaviour.

Worcester City Council is looking to create public space protection orders (PSPOs) on two footpaths between Brickfields Park and Astwood Road and another at Kays crossing which links Bromyard Road and Laugherne Brook Nature Reserve.

The orders, which have also been used to ban drinking alcohol in the city centre, could see people fined up to £100 if they use the banned routes.

The crossing at Brickfields was closed between July 2017 and July 2020 – the maximum length allowed for a PSPO – due to an “extraordinarily high number” of incidents including anti-social behaviour and bricks being thrown at trains.

The Kays footpath, which was used regularly by schoolchildren but suffers from poor visibility making it dangerous, has been closed ‘temporarily’ since February 2020 because of several ‘near misses’ between people and trains.

Fencing protecting the area has also been regularly vandalised, according to the council.

In the six months between May and November 2019, ten incidents were reported at the Kays crossing – the most at any point in the country on the 2,000-mile-long western route – including one death, seven ‘deliberate misuses’ including six involving youngsters and two near-misses with the driver having to slam on the emergency breaks.

The council held a four-week consultation on the plan to close the two crossings earlier this year with just under two-thirds of the 161 responses saying they did not support the closure of the Kays crossing.

Of the 102 people that responded to the survey on the Brickfields crossing, just over half said they would support closing the Brickfields crossing.

Those not supporting the closure said the Brickfields path was a quicker route to the park with others suggesting that police should patrol the area more regularly and the council could look at building a bridge.

Those supporting keeping the Kays crossing open said closing the route would only push the anti-social behaviour elsewhere, it was a quicker route to Dines Green and the nature reserve and the council should install extra CCTV.

The council’s communities committee meets from 7pm in the Guildhall on Wednesday, June 8.