YOUNG and old have united in the fight to bring zebra crossings back to the centre of Shaftesbury.

A protest led by the unusual pairing of nine-year-old Nancy Hawthorn and nonagenarian Mary Thomas was held outside the town hall on Saturday.

The schoolgirl has already highlighted the concerns of some Shaftesbury residents by dressing as a zebra and presenting a 2,000-signature petition to Dorset County Council’s road safety chief in July.

Mrs Thomas, 90, said: “No one feels safe crossing the High Street as it is at the moment and several of my friends have been nearly run over outside the town hall. We want action before some poor person – young or old – is killed.”

Raised areas with shared surface areas for pedestrians and traffic have been installed as replacements for two zebra crossings, which had been placed outside the Town Hall and at Angel Square.

An absence of signage to indicate pedestrian priority has caused controversy, with some Shaftesbury people complaining that the shared areas are dangerous.

But Dorset County Council’s management engineer David Diaz said that people had crossed the High Street at numerous locations, and not only at the two zebra crossings.

“There was a need to make the whole length of the High Street more pedestrian-friendly and shopping in or exploring the town a more pleasant activity.

Therefore, the focus is to create a town centre primarily for pedestrians. The new shared surfaces are helping to achieve the aims of the scheme,” said Mr Diaz.

Work to complete the enhancement scheme, begun in 2007, resumed yesterday.

Two phases of road closures are planned to allow workmen to build wider footways and more shared surface areas in “The Narrows” area of the High Street and Salisbury Street.

  • Shaftesbury High Street closed to traffic in the Mustons Lane area yesterday until January 21.

Salisbury Street will close at Angel Square from January 22 to February 8.

Long, flat humps, known as “speed tables” will be built in both sections.