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Kent County Council is under fire over its decision to spend nearly £15,000 on a DVD aimed at showing people how to cross a town's ring road and find their way around its shared space features.

The council had produced the DVD to give people tips about how to navigate their way around the system in Ashford.

But it has been branded a waste of money by the Taxpayers' Alliance and is facing criticism from some local traders and shopkeepers, whose businesses have been blighted while the work to redevelop the ring road has been going on.

• Watch the movie above and make up your own mind.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "People in Kent need the council to start saving money, not lessons in how to cross the road.

"With the council facing serious financial losses, they should cut out froth like this and focus on doing their core job for a decent price."

Kent County Council has defended the DVD, saying that as the largest shared space development in Europe, it was important that people understood how they should navigate their way around the road.

The shared space element, in which pedestrians and motorists have equal priority and signs are largely removed, has proved controversial with even county transport chiefs questioning how safe it will be.

Transport bosses have produced 6,000 copies of the DVD, in which pedestrians are encouraged to "use all their senses and be sure to make eye contact with drivers when you are trying to move through the traffic".

Kent County Council said the advice had been kept simple because the scheme was unique and it wanted to offer basic safety advice.

In September, the politician overseeing the transformation of the ring road said he was unconvinced the scheme would be safe >>>

• For more news from Ashford, Folkestone, Hythe and Tenterden visit kentishexpress.co.uk >>>