Agenda and minutes

It was confirmed that all business of the meeting would take place in public.

The following concerns and suggestions were raised by the petitioners and children of Dr Tripletts Primary School:

• Pupils were pleased with:
  1. More community officers were patrolling before and after school and ensuring that parents did not just ‘drop and go’
  2. More traffic warderns were stopping cars and issuing tickets to those drivers that parked on yellow lines and on the corner of roads. This was seen as particularly important because poorly parked cars prohibited children from using the Green Cross Code when crossing the road.
  3. Visible patrolling by Transport for London officers made pupils feel safer.
  4. The new 20 mph tortoise signs on Church Road.
  5. More children walking to school.

• Pupils were unhappy with:
  1. Drivers exceeding the 20 mph speed limit on Church Road
  2. The speed limit outside the school and on Hemmen Lane is 30m mph.

• Changes Pupils would like to see included:
  1. Reducing the speed limit outside the school to reduce the risk of accidents / fatalities
  2. More road signs asking drivers to be more aware of the presence of children and of children crossing the road.
  3. Additional road safety schemes (such as speed-humps and  a schools crossings officer)

• The Chair of Governors expressed the view that it was perverse that both roads abutting Hemmen Lane had 20 mph speed limits in force and yet a road with a school did not. Furthermore, a combination of metal barriers and bollards (on grass verges) had been used with some success to reduce traffic speeds. However, both these traffic calming measures had sustained some damage from passing vehicles which served to underline how dangerous the road was.
• The petition requesting a 20 mph speed limit in Hemmen Lane had been signed by nearly every parent of the school.
• Local residents requested a 20 mph speed limit on the roads in the surrounding area.
• The Safer Neighbourhoods officer suggested that speedhumps and a schools crossings officer would improve road safety in Hemmen Lane.

Councillor Lynn Allen attended the hearing as Ward Councillor in support of the petitioners. The following points were raised:

• Concerns were raised about the amount of time matters raised in the school travel plan had taken to be implemented – the speed of implementation was critical.
• A motion to Council had been submitted about the speed of traffic on Hemmen Lane and pupils had highlighted that they wished something to be done as soon as possible.

The Cabinet Member listened to the issues and concerns raised and informed petitioners that a statutory consultation would need to be carried out (by the end of the Summer Term) to determine the next steps. However, he was confident that the outcome would lead to the introduction of 20 mph speed limit in Hemmen Lane, Hayes by the Autumn. Officers also undertook to go back to the school and meet the Head Teacher, who had been detained overseas because of the disruption to airline travel caused by the Icelandic volcanic ash.

Resolved

The Cabinet Member:

1. Notes the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.