LIVES are being put at risk by misleading road markings at the Haslemere Health Centre which were supposed to solve the ongoing parking problems in Church Lane.

That's the view of the health centre's business manager, Melanie Baker, who has written to Surrey County Council to request the removal of the white lines before someone is killed.

"Before the white lines were installed, no one parked in the lane, especially the narrow part outside the health ventre itself," Mrs Baker wrote. "Since their installation, patients have taken these lines as an invitation to park, and do so every day."

She said that the centre has had a number of incidents with lorries trying to pass these parked cars and becoming stuck. Heavy goods vehicles often use Church Lane to avoid going under Fosters Bridge, and the alternate access at Beech Road has experienced similar difficulties.

Although traffic congestion has long been a problem, it is now becoming a safety issue, Mrs Baker argued.

"Pedestrians now risk their lives daily as there is no pavement on this part of the main road," she said. "The whole situation is now becoming untenable."

Mrs Baker is pinning her hopes on a new planning application, soon to be submitted by the Health Centre, for a second car park that will nearly double the capacity on the site.

It is believed that the parking will be funded by half of the £90,000 agreed between Waverley Borough Council and developers last year, in a controversial deal to build houses on the former ambulance site in Grayswood Road.

The white lines were installed at the health ventre last year, after the ambulance site was moved to Church Lane. Mrs Baker told The Herald that the health ventre had not been consulted.

"I don't know who they consulted with," she said. "We had asked for lines, but we had hoped for yellow ones, not white."

She explained that the only response she had received from SCC so far was a "stalling letter", saying that the council would wait to see what would happen with the car park development.

"We are now hoping to get planning permission to have a car park on the other side of the building, round the back, in the very near future," Mrs Baker continued.

"We hope to have 35 extra spaces, we have about 40 at the moment."

Mrs Baker is confident that this will solve the current problems, both for pedestrians, patients, and drivers. With SCC seemingly unwilling to remove the white lines in the immediate future, Mrs Baker would like to see the car park built as soon as possible.

"It will transform what we are able to offer to our patients, and to pedestrians in terms of safety," she added.

Local residents, councillors, hospital staff, and patients have all complained in recent years about not being able to get access to the hospital and the health ventre. The centre's difficulties were the subject of discussion at a Haslemere Town Council planning meeting last Thursday.

Janet Smart said that it was an "accident waiting to happen," and that the existing yellow lines in nearby Three Gates Lane don't come up far enough to provide any relief.

James Mackie said that at the very first meeting the council held after the white lines were approved, the idea was queried.

"Are we meant to park on them or avoid them?" he asked. "It's still not clear. The road is too narrow for this kind of controlled parking to work. At the moment, cars park almost right up to the corner."

Planning committee chairman Mark Lelliott said he was also slightly confused about the situation.

"I remember that the reason for the white lines was because of their concerns about the parking that was already going on, and they were an attempt to deter parking with out going for yellow lines," he said.

"I think we should now ask Surrey to go to the effort to get yellow lines, rather than leave it as the mish-mash it is at the moment."

A spokesman for SCC claimed that the council had asked the health centre for its opinion before installing the lines, but that it didn't respond.

"We also asked for a meeting with them and they didn't reply," she added. "We have replied to their letter and said we will be looking at this as part of the Haslemere CPZ (controlled parking zone) issue on the autumn."

As to the specific problems, the council spokesman didn't understand how the lines made the situation worse.

"We can't control people who are ignoring what's there - people know they can't park on white hatching," she said. "Presumably when there was nothing there at all, people were parking there, so what they say doesn't make sense."