Devizes town councillors have reluctantly decided to abandon plans for a zebra crossing in Bath Road after hearing it would jeopardise the future of a convenience shop.

Councillors had hoped they could change the position of the planned crossing but were told on Tuesday the place put forward by Wiltshire Council outside the Spa shop was the only one to meet traffic criteria.

Even Coun Judy Rose, who has campaigned for years to get a crossing, voted to not have the zebra. She said: “If this is the only place it can go then I will have to vote against it. The shop is more important than the crossing.”

North ward councillor Pete Smith agreed. He said: “I apologise to the people of north ward but I have to vote against the crossing if this is the only place it can go.”

At the start of the meeting members of the planning committee were told by shop owner Derek Tinnion that he had collected 1,000 names on a petition.

He said: “I am not against having a crossing it is just the positioning on it.”

He told the meeting he feared his business, which he has run for 30 years, would close if the crossing was put outside his shop preventing people from parking.

Before the meeting councillors believed it was just a question of moving the crossing a few yards down the road so the shop parking would not be affected.

But Coun Philip Whitehead Wiltshire Council’s portfolio holder for highways was at the meeting and told councillors it was in the proposed spot west of Salisbury Street, between Tregenna Villas and 3 Westminster Close, or nowhere.

He said the area near the shop was the only one that met Wiltshire Council’s criteria for crossing numbers.

Coun Rose, who lives in nearby Avon Road, found herself in a particularly difficult situation as she has campaigned for a crossing for many years. She told how her daughter Annie who was knocked down crossing the road 13 years ago when she was aged 17.

But she told the meeting: “I can’t believe I am doing this but we are going to have to do without a crossing.”

The vote to reject the crossing was carried with all committee members agreeing apart from one abstention.

After the meeting Mr Tinnion said: “I am just very relieved this has happened.”