CALLS to improve road safety in a new housing estate in Wokingham were raised by residents and councillors at a meeting of the borough council on Thursday, January 19 – and the result was a motion to carry out a review.
For months, residents have been calling for 20mph road markings, and barriers lining the school pavement and the crossing on William Heelas Way in the Montague Park estate.
The estate has been built around a new distributor road for Wokingham, and residents had raised concerns that vehicles travelling too fast would cause an accident to children heading to the primary school. Heather Murray, a resident and also wife of Norreys ward councillor Gregor, asked a question calling for the works to be actioned, before a debate was brought forward from the end of the meeting so it could be discussed along with Cllr Paul Fishwick’s answer.
He said that 20mph signs were installed in October, and have been operational in the run-up to Christmas, but the petition presented to a previous council meeting was being considered as part of the normal process.
“What happens next will depend on the outcome of the motion,” he added.
Mrs Murray said she had “absolutely no belief in the commitment to deliver on what is required”, and called on the council to amend its agenda to allow the discussion to take place immediately.
Cllr Charles Margetts, the shadow executive member for highways, spoke on the motion, saying 500 people had signed a petition calling for action but no reaction from the council. He quoted a letter from a resident who said his five-year-old had been using the zebra crossing when a white van, going “at least 50mph” went through the crossing while a car speed over it on the other side of the road.
“It seems inevitable that a child will be killed or very seriously injured at some point soon, while trying to cross the road to get to their school. Serious prevention measures need to be put in place urgently,” he said, adding that the proposal to send the safety scheme to the council’s Highways Safety Improvements Pool meant it might never see the light of day, and the Lib Dems were playing “Petty politics over children’s safety”.
Cllr Fishwick said councillors from other wards had requested road safety improvements for their areas.
“Each scheme must be assessed to determine these benefits as a level playing field and not on the basis of who shouts loudest,” he said.
Cllr Alistair Neal (Lib Dem) backed this stance. “Promoting road safety schemes in our wards is what we councillors do, but we should not be allowed to manipulate the process for the benefit of our own wards,” he said.
Cllr Murray said his son was nearly run over just before Christmas by a van cutting a corner: “The layout of this road is allowing dangerous driving and we need to make changes.”
He added that not taking action meant “there’s going to be an accident and that blood will be on our hands”.
Cllr Maria Gee (Lib Dem) said the party had only run the council since May, and the road had been open for a number of years. “I do question why nothing has been done about it for the last five years. I’ve certainly been campaigning for safety measures for at least three years.”
Cllr Gary Cowan (Ind) felt schemes needed to be assessed as he would not know which schools would have the greatest need for safety measures. “We must have a system that looks at all the options and plans put forward,” he said, adding he wanted some assurance that Montague Park would be “prioritised very, very highly”.
“This a classic case of let’s kick the can down the road,” said Cllr Keith Baker (Con). “There’s no transparency, no openness.”
“When Tommy gets run over, his parents are not going to be happy (with councillors saying) it was on the list, we’re going to look at that list .. oif you believe there’s a safety issue, instruct officers to do it. Every administration has done that, you will do it as well.”
Summing up, Cllr Margetts said Cllr Cowan had asked the relevant question – “how do you judge a school is more important than others?”
He said the process had been stalled for six months, and wanted the council to prioritise it.
The council carried the motion to send the scheme to review by the highway safety improvements pool, by 26-25.
