THE chairman of a group of disabled people lobbying for sloping pavements in Kidderminster's Weavers Wharf car park has responded with scepticism to a pledge their calls will soon be answered.

Chris Dalzell, managing director of Highstone Estates, which owns the £60 million development, told the Shuttle/Times & News a mistake had been made building the complex, which had resulted in a lack of graduated pavements on the footpath outside Marks & Spencer.

He pledged work was due to begin imminently to correct the problem, by joining the pavements parallel to disabled spaces outside the store to a ramp running through the middle of the car park.

"It is one of those things that, on a 10-acre site ,there are some oversights," he said.

"The order has been placed for the work to happen."

His comments were met with indignation by chairman of Disability Action (Wyre Forest), Mark Lawley, who said his group had been seeking change for about six months.

"We went to Weavers Wharf in December and went back last Tuesday - and they hadn't done anything to improve the situation," Mr Lawley said, explaining that his group had contacted the developers Centros Miller in December.

"Where there are disabled spaces there are chevron stripes on the floor so, where the pavements start, there should be a drop kerb or ramp on it - but there isn't - so people with wheelchairs have to go into the traffic."

He added blister-type paving and colour coding in the car park also created a problem, by indicating there was a graduated kerb where there was not.

"The developers said they would review the car park in December but here we are in May and nothing has been done on any of these issues. Will it be done by May next year?"

The Shuttle/Times & News contacted Highstone Estates after receiving a call from pensioner, Howard Simpson, who claimed it took more than half an hour to get his wife Doris's wheelchair onto the pavement during a trip to M&S.

"We had a really traumatic time because, without graduated kerbs, you can't get the wheelchair into the shops," said the Cookley 88-year-old.

"It was frustrating because I was just tearing around trying to find somewhere to get in - we eventually spoke to the car park attendant and he got two people off the street to lift the chair onto the kerb - but we had the same problem coming out."

Mr Dalzell said his company had not received any complaints from the district's Disability Action Group, but it intended to use the planned work to correct all of the issues raised.

"I'm doing my best to solve these problems as quickly as I can," he said.

David Lewis, development manager of Centros Miller, added: "We have looked into it but quite a lot has been happening at the site - including royal visits - so we have had to choose the appropriate time to take action."

"In our experience, there are always teething troubles at the beginning and they don't change overnight - there are plans in place to try and rectify some of the issues raised."