CAMPAIGNERS fighting for a crossing on a busy Blackburn road have been told a Traffic island will be built in February.

But they claim it is not enough and that they would rather wait for a zebra or pelican crossing.

Lancashire County Council has made funding available for the island, in Preston Old Road, Cherry Tree, Blackburn.

But campaigner Dianne Finch, of Livesey Hall Close, Cherry Tree, said it simply was not enough and she planned to tell the council: "Thanks, but no thanks."

She said: "We are going to keep fighting for a pelican or a zebra crossing. Traffic islands do not work.

"They help you get into the middle but what we are after is something to slow the traffic."

Another campaigner, David Walton, of Sunnyside Avenue, Cherry Tree, said he could understand that a pelican crossing might be too expensive. But he said that an island with a zebra crossing on either side might have been a cost-effective alternative.

An 80-year-old woman died last month when she was involved in a collision with a car as she crossed the road.

A six-year-old schoolgirl also suffered head injuries in the accident earlier in the year.

Campaigners presented Blackburn MP Jack Straw with a 1,400-name petition in July.

A spokeswoman for Blackburn with Darwen Council confirmed that the county council had approved funding from this financial year's budget for a scheme at Cherry Tree.

"This is considered the most appropriate form of traffic-calming at this moment in time, but other measures have not been ruled out."

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