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Protesters will march along a busy road in Cramlington this weekend to highlight the lack of a safe way for pedestrians to access recently built houses.

Residents of Bellway’s Arcot Manor estate and Persimmon’s The Fairways estate will walk from the entrance of the housing estates along Fisher Lane to Northumberlandia and back, their only option for accessing local services by foot.

Accessing bus services to Cramlington and Blyth or to Newcastle involves crossing Fisher Lane too, which residents say is not safe.

Householders started to contact Northumberland County Council about pedestrian safety back in 2019, but they say their pleas for action have fallen on deaf ears.

Julia Dowd is one of the residents campaigning for better access between housing developments and Cramlington town centre.

Julia Dowd, who lives on The Fairways estate, said: “This has left many residents, including those in social housing, isolated.

“Residents have been requesting immediate action to prevent injury or loss of life as a result of not creating adequate infrastructure to a growing development, which currently has approximately 400 properties being occupied.

“It is believed that there has been a breach of the Section 106 agreement, whereby travel measures clearly state that there should be pedestrian access to wider services for residents from first occupation and ongoing.

“Residents want to see a safer crossing point, together with appropriate signs and a temporary or permanent footpath giving residents access to local services.”

The walk will involve travelling down a 50mph road and crossing a dual carriageway.

A petition launched by the group collected 292 signatures and led to a council discussion on the issue.

Speaking at the time, councillor Richard Dodd, petitions committee chairman, said: “I understand your frustrations. We will do our best.

“We will try to get this nudged on, we will get traffic lights investigated, and if the developer is willing to do deals we will draw down on that.”

A footpath across council-owned land that would allow pedestrians safe access between the town centre and the developments had been discussed by the council, but this has not yet been built.

Julia added: “Council tax and development financial contributions have boosted funds for Northumberland County Council with residents seeing little to no benefit from this.

“Residents have exhausted all options to improve their situation with, other than holding back council tax payments, no other way forward to force much needed improvements.”

The News Post Leader has contacted the county council for comment.

Residents at new Cramlington housing developments to protest over unresolved road safety concerns