ROAD safety, play facilities for children and the recent hike in council tax are the issues concerning the residents of Claines.

Stanley Woolley, aged 78, a retired tank driver from Northwick Road, said the area was still waiting for a pedestrian crossing to be put in outside the Co-op at the junction of Ombersley Road and Northwick Road.

"It has been approved, we had been asking for it for ages, but I don't know when it will actually be put in place," he said.

"We really need one here before someone gets knocked over and killed. It's a busy shopping place where lots of people, including pensioners and young children cross over."

He also wanted the council to approve a new use for Barbourne Works, the former Kays building on the junction of Northwick Avenue and Sabrina Avenue, which is standing empty.

The planning committee recently turned down an application for 46 apartments on the site.

Mr Woolley said he was also concerned about the recent hike in council tax.

"My pension went up by £8 but my rates went up by £15," he said.

Julia Tainty, 38, of Cornmeadow Lane, said she was pleased that a lot of road traffic measures were being put in, particularly on Ombersley Road.

But the mum-of-two said she would like to see more playing facilities for children in the area.

"We're waiting for some play equipment on the playing fields on Cornmeadow Lane.

"I think a lot of work is needed on all the parks in the city - we travel to Droitwich to use a decent park," she said.

Mrs Tainty added that all the councillors should lobbying for money for Worcestershire schools, which has for many years been at the bottom of the Government funding pile.

Both Dawn Denning, a 46-year-old mum-of-one, of Lavender Road, and Vivien Greenow, a 68-year-old grandmother-of-six, who lives on Eastbank Drive, want to see the council clean up Gheluvelt Park.

"Everything is wrong with the park," said Miss Denning. "It needs a really good seeing to."

Mrs Greenow, a retired teacher, said it was all right during the day but at night it was taken over by drug users.

"There is a lot of litter and particularly needles found in the park and that needs to be kept an eye on."