NEWPORT councillor, Geoff Brodie, has asked Isle of Wight Council highways bosses to think again about creating a safer route for pedestrians who currently use Pan Lane to get to Asda's new store — before someone is badly injured or even killed.

He has persuaded highways chiefs at County Hall to undertake a survey of the speed of traffic along the road, in the hope that it will build a case for the provision of a well lit pedestrian route.

Four years ago, Cllr Brodie predicted when the Asda planning application was being prepared, Pan Lane between Pan and the new superstore would become one of the main pedestrian routes to the store.

However, Pan Lane at this point is a narrow, hedge-lined and unlit country road without a pavement that has a higher 30mph speed limit than the rest of Pan, which is all limited to 20mph.

In 2014, Cllr Brodie asked planning officers to ensure a safe pedestrian route from Pan to the store, paid for by Asda, but was advised that it was not necessary and could not be insisted upon under planning rules. Something he strongly disputed.

Additionally, the council has recently turned down his request for this section of Pan Lane to be a 20mph stretch, rather than 30mph.

Since Asda opened in August the hugely increased pedestrian footfall along Pan Lane has become very evident to local people and with dark evenings, Cllr Brodie fears that a bad accident could very easily happen.

Cllr Brodie said: "There is substantial money (£1.25m) available from the Pan Meadows developers for highways works in Newport. I am suggesting that some of this should be used to resolve this obvious problem — a problem that could have been dealt with at the time of the Asda planning approval.

"Planners argued that my residents should walk along St Georges Way, about four times the distance along Pan Lane. I live in the real world and knew that Pan Lane would become the preferred route. I just hope that the council gets its act together before someone is killed."