CAMPAIGNERS believe a second crash in one week, at a busy junction set to be redesigned as part of a 662-home development, shows the road is already too dangerous.

A car and lorry were involved in a collision on Ashingdon Road, Rochford, near the Holt Farm junior and infant schools crossing on Friday afternoon.

Just seven days earlier a boy was hit by a car while crossing the road on his bike at the same junction.

A spokesman for the Save Holt Farm Oak Tree campaign said: “If this lorry crash had been a child, it just doesn’t bear thinking about.

“This was the second crash in a week. How many more warning signs do we need before action is taken over this dangerous access road plan?”

In October, protesters began living in a 100-year-old oak tree on the junction which is set to be felled by developer Bloor Homes as part of a massive housing development near the site.

Protesters have been legally ordered to vacate the tree when it is axed down in February.

But the campaign group is continuing its battle, arguing the plans will make the crossing dangerous for schoolchildren.

Bloor Homes insists its new designs will be an improvement for safety.

The firm has pledged to install 20 metres of new pedestrian guard railing, add a two-metre-wide refuge island to prevent overtaking near the school, and upgrading the Toucan crossing.

Tonight, Rochford Council’s planning committee will decide on proposals put forward by the firm to install a 4.5-metre tall chevron style advertisement board near the crossing.

The proposed will mark the entrance to the new development off Ashingdon Road and read: “Coming soon. Another exciting new development by Bloor Homes.”

Campaigners say the move is a kick in the teeth.

“Bloor will pull down our tree in front of us in a couple of weeks and then put up this sign. It will be an absolute insult to our residents and to nature,” a spokesman for the campaign said.

A spokesman from Bloor Homes said: “We are aware that there has been reference to road traffic accidents and are aware of two, neither of which have been as a direct result of any factors included in the proposed new junction design.”