RESIDENTS who live at a new housing development near Wallingford say a crossing is urgently needed to make their lives safer.

Niall Hammond and his partner Cathy Block, who live in Villa Close, Cholsey Meadows, have launched a Facebook campaign calling for the new crossing at the junction of Papist Way and Reading Road.

Mr Hammond, 49, said the crossing would make it safer for families with young children, as well as for other residents in the area.

He added: “There is a corner shop and pub just off the junction and people come this way heading to the station – it definitely needs a crossing. The vast majority of residents on the Cholsey Meadows estate cross Reading Road at the Papist Way junction.”

The Facebook page has had about 261 likes so far and residents have left messages in support.

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Mr Hammond added: “I created a petition on change.org and that quite quickly got 100 people signing up, so we thought it was worth setting up the Facebook page to get more support.

“Now we are forming a campaign group to lobby the county council for a pedestrian crossing.

“The county council engineers need to come out and have a proper look. We will be writing to the highways department in the near future asking them to come and make an assessment.”

Mum-of-three Asheley Catt lives in Villa Close with daughters Rebecca Catt, nine, Felicity Catt, six, and Katherine Pearce, three months. She said: “A lot of families live on the Cholsey Meadows estate and they would really appreciate a crossing at this point on the Reading Road. Highways staff from the county council need to come down and have a look to see if a crossing would be possible.”

Cholsey Parish Council leader and county councillor Mark Gray said there were plans for a pedestrian island in Reading Road that would help people to cross about 400 yards from the Papist Way junction, but no proposal for a crossing. He added: “As part of the Linden Homes development a crossing was considered but they didn’t feel it was appropriate at the time because there were so many junctions close together.”