THE good people of Bewdley have been misled by a small group of people who seem to regard their cars as being more important than children's lives.

The result of the recent Parish Poll should be no surprise to anyone. To my knowledge, there was no-one anywhere in Bewdley who wanted a traffic-calming scheme as extensive as that originally proposed by the county council - and that includes the members of Bewdley Town Council.

However, the county council has always maintained that we had a choice of all or nothing. Given this, Bewdley Town Council worked for months with residents and the county council in order to get a traffic-calming scheme that still qualified for a grant under the Safer Routes to School initiative, but which was more acceptable to the people of Bewdley.

From the results of the Parish Poll it is obvious that the majority of Bewdley residents want a traffic-calming scheme to protect their children. They have unfortunately been led to believe that a much smaller scheme is possible. It is not - unless the county council has misled everyone.

As a former town councillor and governor of St Anne's First School I can honestly say that I did everything in my power to protect Bewdley children.

If we miss out on a traffic-calming scheme and a child is badly injured, and if it is shown people knew the choice was all or nothing, I hope they will be able to live with themselves.

STEVE GROOME

Park Dingle, Bewdley