HOPES for a new pelican crossing at a Shinfield school have been put on the backburner after a confusion-filled scoping meeting deemed it unnecessary.
Cllr Paul Fishwick, executive member for active travel, transport and highways, confirmed additional traffic safety measures were not required at Crosfields School during a Wokingham Borough Council meeting on January 19.
Having visited the Shinfield Road site, Cllr Fishwick explained: “I witnessed a few people crossing the road, but the vast majority, about 99 percent of the people, were brought in by car, and a few people came by bus.
“There has been a report undertaken by the council in February 2022. The situation is no different now than the assessment that was made at that time. However, it will all be kept on the shelf and reviewed at a later date.”
Shinfield North councillor Parry Batth had raised the question of traffic safety outside the school for a number of months and expressed his disappointment that initial groundwork done by Cllr Fishwick’s predecessor, Cllr Pauline Jorgensen would ‘go to waste’.
Cllr Batth said: “The crossing [would be] for children crossing the road. The safety of children is paramount. There’s a lot of work that’s already been done by officers for this particular remit and I don’t want that work to go to waste. I would ask Cllr Fishwick to reconsider his position because he’s told me the crossing is not necessary.”
He had initially been encouraged by Cllr Fishwick’s agreement to meet at the school and hoped it could “speed up the process” of installing more robust safety measures.
A scoping meeting had been planned between the two of them and Crosfields’ headteacher to assess the need for a potential crossing.
But confusion over which of the two entrances the pair were set to meet left Cllr Batth waiting at the main entrance with the headteacher and deputy head from 7.50am to 8.20am, while Cllr Fishwick waited some 200m down Shinfield Road.
Cllr Batth said they ‘never saw Cllr Fishwick at all’.
Wokingham Borough Council confirmed Cllr Fishwick’s presence at Crosfields at the time of the meeting and the Winnersh councillor confirmed he had eventually met with and spoken to the school’s headteacher at the council meeting.
A spokesperson for Crosfields School said: “We are disappointed to learn that the crossing did not secure approval from the council. Our local councillors have been most supportive of our desire to encourage our parents and pupils to walk or cycle to and from school in greater numbers.
“From consultations with the community and our parent body, there is a reluctance for parents and children to walk in these greater numbers until there is a safe crossing point at the school’s main entrance.
“As a school, we encourage sustainable transport, with, as an example, Walk It Wednesdays a regular feature of our school terms. We had hoped for greater support from the council as a whole to help our initiatives grow.
“We will continue to do all we can to help provide safe pedestrian and cycle routes for our families to allow them to make environmental-friendly choices for their travel to school.
“We would like to urge the council to revisit both our site and its decision not to install a safe public pedestrian crossing point on Shinfield Road.’
In February 2020, the school received the green light for plans to expand its provision to students aged 14-16, having previously only accepted children up to age 13.
The announcement saw the construction of Crosfields’ senior school building to accommodate an additional 300 students.
Both residents and Reading Borough Council raised concerns about traffic safety issues the introduction of new students would present.
Mr Watson told Wokingham Borough Council’s planning committee a lot of the new intake would travel into school by bike, bus or foot.
He also explained around a quarter of students commuted with one or more siblings, reducing the number of cars on Shinfield Road.
