A CHILD will be killed if action is not taken to stop drivers using a Pershore road as a rat-run and a speedway, residents claimed this week.

Residents in Cherry Orchard have campaigned for more than ten years to stop drivers using the road as a shortcut and now fear the death of a child will be the only thing which prompts Worcestershire County Council to take action.

Rachel Edwards, who has campaigned for action since she moved into the street four years ago, said the worst periods were between 5am and 7am and between 5pm and 7pm, when rush hour traffic tried to avoid using the Station Road traffic lights.

She said that on Friday nights, young people sped up and down the 30mph road, driving at 60 and 70mph before slamming on their brakes before they hit the bend.

She said they put the lives of more than 100 children at Cherry Orchard School and children and elderly people living in the street at great risk.

On October 1 last year, the council received 60 letters from residents in Cherry Orchard and surrounding roads.

Last November Cherry Orchard was placed on a county council list of 20 roads recommended for a traffic survey to determine whether traffic calming measures were needed.

Campaigners have now heard that the survey will not go ahead because the council's new sustainable traffic strategy supports surveys on only three of the 20 roads this year.

Kate Passant, senior project engineer with Worcestershire County Council, said the council had already earmarked the areas to be surveyed before being made aware of the problems in Cherry Orchard.

"We will certainly be looking at it but, at the present time, I can't say when that will be," she explained.

Phil Cummins, of Cherry Orchard, said it had been a problem since the road was signposted as a "residents' access only" road more than ten years ago.

Mrs Edwards warned drivers: "If you use Cherry Orchard as a cut through please stop, now.

"You are endangering so many lives for the sake of a few seconds gained on the way home."