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Safety concerns have been raised about the “shared space” aspect of Ashford’s ring road after we revealed that it cost £15,000 to produce a DVD explaining the scheme.

An Ashford woman has written to the county council saying her family suffered two near misses with cars when trying to cross the road, and the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association has said the DVD’s contents are “very troubling”.

Denise Hosken, who works in Ashford town centre, said: “On both occasions the vehicle had to screech to a halt and neither were keeping to the 20mph speed limit.”

One of the incidents happened in Forge Lane and the other in Elwick Road, near Debenhams.

Mrs Hosken has outlined her concerns in a letter to the county council. These include her worry that the colour of the crossings are two similar shades of grey rather than the traditional black and white.

Organisers at the Maidstone branch of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association have watched the DVD and are concerned about the advice it gives, which relies on sight.

Geraint Evans, district team manager, is concerned to hear the DVD say that those on foot “should not rely on drivers waving you across” and that pedestrians should “use all their senses and be sure to make eye contact with drivers when they are trying to move through the traffic”.

Meanwhile, the senior politician in charge of Kent’s roads has defended the DVD.

Cllr Keith Ferrin (Con), KCC’s cabinet member for highways, insisted the DVD would be helpful and said it had been misrepresented in the media.

While he admitted there may have been other ways to get the message across, he insisted there was no harm in producing the video.

“Most of it is not about how to cross the road. That is just a part of it and is designed to give people a bit of information about what to expect.

“This is the first scheme of this kind for Kent and people in Ashford will not have come across a scheme like this before and there is no doubt that they need a bit more understanding about how it works,” he said.

“People should not rush to judge without having seen the DVD first,” he added. “They should not take my word for it but look at the whole video.”

The county council would have been criticised had it not produced something to give people advice, he added.

For more news about the shared space scheme, see this week's Kentish Express