ACTION has been promised to improve safety at a busy road junction which residents claim is dangerous.

Campaigners from a sheltered housing scheme in Guisborough say the junction of New Road and Westgate, the main shopping street, is increasingly dangerous.

Residents from Kemplah House, in New Road, presented a petition with more than 90 signatures to MP Ashok Kumar on Friday, when they met him at the junction.

Thomas McCabe, the campaigners' spokesperson, who lives at Kemplah House, said: "With the new council flats and other developments on Rectory Lane, I'd say the volume of traffic using the junction has increased by 200 per cent.

"I hope the solution will come soon because it's making life a misery for the residents, some of whom are in their nineties and use walking sticks, scooters and wheelchairs to get about.

"It's our only way into the town. Once the dark nights come, someone may well be knocked down."

Dr Kumar, the Labour member of parliament for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, whose office is very near to the junction, said: "I am personally well aware that this is a dangerous spot for pedestrians, and even more dangerous for older people.

"I believe that there is a good case for a pelican crossing and some kind of traffic calming in the immediate area, and I will be sending the petition to the chief executive of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, asking for a full investigation and speedy action before there is a serious accident."

The council's cabinet chairman and member for strategic planning development and infrastructure, Councillor Eric Empson, said: "I can assure Dr Kumar and the residents that we already recognise action needs to be taken at this busy junction."

He said the petition endorsed the findings of a team of consultants, who looked at the access to bus stops within 16 town and village centres.

Coun Empson said they identified the need for a crossing near New Road and the council was drawing up plans on which to consult local people.