Sixty years after zebra crossings were introduced in Britain, people living near a complex of elderly people’s apartments are trying to persuade Bradford Council not to provide one.

Developer McCarthy and Stone Retirement was granted permission for the 57 flats on a site in Highfield Road, Idle, earlier this year on the condition it pay £48,000 towards the cost of providing a pedestrian crossing.

Bradford Council has proposed a staggered zebra crossing with an island but residents believe a crossing controlled by lights would be more appropriate.

Zebra crossings, with black and white stripes and flashing Belisha beacons, made their first appearance in Britain on October 31, 1951. Now they are less popular and some road safety experts think they will soon disappear.

More than 1,000 have vanished in the past five years because many people think that pelican crossings which have lights and flashing signs are much safer.

The Council has received several objections to the proposals, which Shipley Area Committee is set to consider early next year.

One resident who favours a pelican or a puffin crossing is 88-year-old Jeff Hepworth, of Greycourt Close.

He said: ‘‘It is not a question of the Council choosing the cheaper option because they are short of money. The developers have already paid them the £48,000. That money has to be used to pay for a pedestrian crossing and not for anything else. I have been assured it is sufficient to pay for a pelican or puffin crossing so that is what should be provided.”

Mr Hepworth said elderly people needed as much help as possible when crossing Highfield Road because drivers travelled fast and it was wider than the average road. He said: “Vehicles are supposed to stop as soon as a pedestrian puts one foot on a zebra crossing, but you cannot expect a pensioner to take that risk. Crossings with lights are much better because drivers get advance warning that a pedestrian is about to cross.”

But Shipley Area Committee member, Councillor Vanda Greenwood (Lab, Windhill and Wrose) said she thought most residents were happy with the plans, although there had originally been some opposition to the proposed location of the crossing. She said: “The zebra crossing will do equally as good a job as a pelican crossing and is a third of the price. At the end of the day if highways officers think the zebra crossing will do the job then it makes sense spending money on it, rather than a pelican crossing.”

The first apartments at the site, formerly occupied by a firm called Rockwood, will be finished by April.