A cycle and pedestrian crossing proposed for a busy Truro industrial estate is being fiercely opposed by local businesses on safety grounds.

Cornwall Council wants to put a diagonal 12m crossing across Newham Road to access a proposed lifting bridge between Lighterage Quay and Boscawen Park, which would form part of a new green walking and cycling loop around Truro harbour.

The bridge is the flagship project of the £23.6m Town Deal plan to revitalise Truro and is expected to go before Cornwall Council planners on April 7.

Newham Industrial Estate is home to 180 companies employing around 1,200 people, who fear the crossing could bring pedestrians and cyclists into conflict with heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

The council’s own road safety audit highlights how pedestrians, especially older or disabled people, “may struggle to see a vehicle approaching” because of the angle and distance of the crossing, which spans a busy road junction between Newham Road and Lighterage Hill.

It adds: “Their safety would then be dependent upon the approaching driver seeing and reacting to their presence. Failure to do so could result in a collision between a vehicle and vulnerable road user, most likely a pedestrian.”

The safety audit was drawn up by the council’s arm’s length company Cormac after Truro City Council expressed “grave concerns” about the safety of walkers and cyclists in response to Cornwall Council’s original planning application for the bridge, which was subsequently postponed. Devon & Cornwall Police also expressed concerns about safety, especially after dark.

The council hopes warning signs, road markings and coloured road surfaces or textures will “reduce the risk as far as practicable”. It also wants to cut back nearby vegetation to improve visibility at the junction.

These measures were presented to local businesses by council officials on February 25 at a meeting organised by the Newham Business Improvement District (BID), whose chairman Leigh Ibbotson accused the council of “hoping to design themselves out of trouble through some cosmetic tweaks”.

“The general reaction in the room was one of horror when we saw what the plans involve,” he added.

“We’re not against the bridge project, but we maintain the access is ill-conceived and unsafe. We believe the only safe solution is to create a boardwalk by the river along Newham Road to maintain separation between pedestrians, cyclists and industrial traffic.”

Carole Theobald, chief executive of Newham-based sight loss charity iSightCornwall and chair of Cornwall Disability Alliance - representing 10 leading charities for physical, sensory and neurological disabilities – said: “The whole scheme needs a major rethink.”

MacSalvors crane hire operates more than 100 vehicles, including 37 heavy duty cranes, which would pass over the proposed crossing daily. Managing director Cameron MacQuarrie declared the plans “a recipe for disaster”, adding: “You can’t mitigate risks like these with some signs and a bit of paint in the middle of a busy industrial estate.”

The bridge project also faces stiff opposition from Natural England because of its potential impact on the Malpas Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest.