Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:  That all items be considered in public.

Councillor Beulah East attended the meeting and spoke as a Ward Councillor in support of the petition. 

Concerns, comments and suggestions raised by petitioners included the following:

• Letters from former Year 6 pupils had been submitted in the 2010/2011 school year to Councillor Burrows expressing concern regarding road safety around Charville Primary School;
• Petitioners noted that there had been an increase in the number of people involved in accidents or near-misses in the vicinity of the school over the last couple of years;
• As there were so few crossings on the route to Charville Primary School, pupils were having to walk quite a long way down the road before they were able to cross the road;
• A boy had recently been knocked over by a motorcyclist – there had been three accidents in the last six months.  Although not seriously injured, one had been a pupil at Charville Primary School and two had been students at local secondary schools;
• As some drivers and cyclists found it difficult to slow down on Charville Lane, there was an increased risk of hitting a pedestrian that stepped out in the road in front of them without looking;
• The majority of incidents had occurred in the busy periods before school started and after it finished and had involved buses or parents picking up their children from the School.  The busy periods were compounded by the fact that Abbotsfield and Swakeleys schools both started and finished at the same time as Charville Primary School;
• The roads were already quite narrow so, when cars parked there, it interfered with the flow of traffic and increased congestion.  This was particularly noticeable when it involved a bus or when two buses tried to pass each other;
• Drivers had been seen to block the residents’ driveways with their inconsiderate parking;
• Parking for residents in the flats in the area was already thought to be limited;
• There had been a number of road rage incidents in the area where drivers would not concede;
• One of the petitioners usually took 45 minutes to travel home from school on the bus.  On one occasion it had taken him 2 hours as vehicles had been parked inconsiderately and drivers had not been prepared to concede to oncoming traffic and therefore blocked the road and caused a huge traffic jam;
• Some pupils were crossing the road behind buses which was deemed to be dangerous;
• As Charville Primary School had increased in size, there had also been an increase in the number of vehicles and buses operating in the area; and
• It was suggested that the following measures be considered:
  • installation of speed bumps;
  • installation of a crossing – preferably towards the middle of Charville Lane at the junction with Romney Road;
  • installation of speed cameras;
  • installation of traffic lights;
  • installation of cycle lanes;
  • a reduction in the speed limit;
  • erection of signage to remind drivers of the speed limit;
  • repainting of the zigzag lines outside the school; and
  • installation of double yellow lines in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.