AN application to improve access to a Wyre Forest tourist attraction has been refused.

The proposal submitted by West Midland Safari Park was turned down by Wyre Forest District Council's planning (development control) committee on Tuesday.

Permission was being sought for a separate left and right turning lane for visitors exiting the park onto the A456, where there have been more than 20 accidents in the past few years.

It was similar to an application approved five years ago by the district council but in the council planners' report to the committee it stated the Highways Agency believed "the level of traffic entering and leaving the site is significantly greater now than when the previous scheme was approved."

The councillors had been recommended to refuse the application by council planners.

Wendy Jackson, spokeswoman for the safari park, said: "We are in on-going talks with the county council as highway authority about possible improvements to the junction."