TRAFFIC-calming measures will not be put in place on a housing estate until there are more serious accidents, angry residents have heard.

People living in Worcester's Warndon Villages are growing increasingly concerned at the speed at which drivers cross the estate, claiming children are at risk.

But Worcestershire County Council's senior engineer for traffic management, Tom Comerford, told a packed meeting on the estate this week that traffic calming measures were placed at known black spots, or "cluster sites", as they are now called.

"Schemes have to go where the accidents are," said Mr Comerford, who was invited by the parish council to address more than 70 people.

"I have to go with my conscience and put schemes at previous accident sites. If there was a greater number of accidents of greater severity on Warndon Villages, then it would appear further up the county council's list of priorities."

There have been repeated fears about speeding on the estate, especially on Woodgreen Drive.

But a Highways Partnership report shows that from January 1, 1998, to December 31, 2000, there were only three personal injury accidents on Woodgreen Drive.

Residents, however, are not comforted by the figures.

"Until a child is killed there, traffic-calming measures won't be put in place," said Carol Greenow, a mother-of-two from Bolton Avenue.

Parish council chairman, Maurice Clutterbuck, said he was angered by the report.

"Until you have a lot of accidents, no one seems to take much notice," he said.

But Mr Comerford said the funding available to the county council from central government had to address the county's 425 cluster sites, none of which were on Warndon Villages.