PEOPLE in a village cut in half by a busy road are stepping up their campaign to have a safe crossing or pedestrians.

Villagers in Aylburton have to “take their lives in the hands” when trying to cross the A48.

As a major route into and out of Wales, the road carries some 10,000 vehicles a day.

Villagers have submitted a petition calling on Gloucestershire County Council to install a crossing.

There are some 100 houses that face directly onto the road and there are local facilities such as the village school, two pubs and churches on either side of the road.

District councillor Mark Topping (Green, Lydney West and Aylburton) said more than 130 off the 600 people living in the village have signed the petition.

He said: “Its not the biggest petition in the world but every one of them is a local person who is directly impacted by this road.

“People have a right to feel safe in their communities and we are not safe here.

“This road goes right through the middle of the community has got 10,000 vehicles on it every day 

“Hundreds of people live here and there is nowhere safe to cross, nowhere where pedestrians have priority.

“We are asking for a crossing where pedestrians have priority.

“The county council tells us not enough people live here.

“There isn’t enough justification for the spend when not enough Council Tax payers live here

“That can’t be right.

“That is discriminating in a way against people who live in villages in the county and there are thousands of people living in villages who are being told you can’t ever have a zebra crossing.

“We k now this is going to be a long time, it’s going to take a long time to convince them but we will get there.

“This needs to be done.

“We haven’t taken the petition into other areas of the village

“It is important we got the petition from people most affected and get them (the county council) to justify their approach.Gloucestershire County Council was approached for comment.