Kings Hill Parish council is taking supermarket giant Waitrose to task after the retailer has left pedestrians vulnerable as they try to access the store.

The parish has spent years lobbying the supermarket chain to provide a safer pedestrian entrance to its Little Waitrose shop in Fortune Way.

At present, the "official" pedestrian entrance for those accessing the store from the north and east is via a footpath alongside the HGV service access to the adjacent Asda store and then around the perimeter of the car park to get to the front door of the Waitrose store.

There is no signage to indicate this is the preferred way.

What has happened is that some shoppers have forced a path up a bank and through the hedge surrounding the car park as a short cut, but the incline and narrowness is not accessible by all.

So regular shoppers are forced to share the winding vehicular access to the store's car park, which is also steep and puts them into potential conflict with cars arriving at and departing the store.

The company applied for and was granted planning permission in October 2015 to provide a footpath from Fortune Way which would be safer and more convenient for shoppers, but it has never been implemented and the permission has now officially lapsed.

The parish council described the lack of action as "disappointing."

Council chairman Sarah Barker said: "We have been calling for Waitrose to improve the safety of the car park access for years.

"It needs to be addressed before someone gets badly injured."

When Tonbridge and Malling council considered the Waitrose planning application five years ago, the planning officer noted: "There is concern that the lack of a suitable pedestrian access way from Fortune Way creates a dangerous situation as the existing route to access the store is so excessive and unclear that customers use the store’s steep, narrow and curving vehicular access road as an alternative.

"This causes a risk to pedestrians, especially children and those who are less mobile such as the elderly and disabled."

As late as last year, Waitrose was still telling the parish council that it wanted to find a solution, but in January said it had no budget to carry out the works in foreseeable future.

This week, a Waitrose spokesman said: "We looked at the possibility of adding an additional access point to the site at the request of the parish council. However we are confident that there are enough safe access and exit points for both pedestrians and vehicles."

Access to the store from the west is easy, along a flat pedestrianised area.

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