Issue - meetings

The full wording of the petition and officer response will be provided within the supplementary agenda.

The Local Committee agreed to:

      i.        Allow the county councils Safer Travel Team to investigate concerns raised by the petition using the Road Safety Outside Schools Policy

     ii.        The outcome of the safety assessment being reported to the school and local divisional member as well as the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the local committee, containing the results of the road safety education assessment and a description of any potential highway improvements and estimated costs.

Reason for decisions:

The above decisions were made to enable the SCC Safer Travel Team to conduct a Road Safety Outside Schools Assessment and report back their findings and recommendations for improvements that could be implemented, if appropriate.

Declarations of Interest: None

Officers Attending: Anne-Marie Hannam, Senior Traffic Engineer (STE), SCC

Petitions, Public Questions and Statements: The petition and officer response was published within the supplementary agenda.

The lead petitioner Ms Claire Mehrai attended the meeting and addressed the committee with details of the petition. She made the point that improving safety along the route to St Anne’s Catholic Primary School would also be of benefit to children travelling to other schools in the vicinity. She added there was some signage in place to notify vehicles of the short 20mph zone outside the school; this however was currently covered in foliage so couldn’t be easily seen. The problem of cars parking right outside the school made it difficult with children often having to cross unsafely between cars, where visibility was poor.

Key points from the discussion:

·         The divisional member expressed support for the petition in principle, noting the area was particularly busy at school drop off and pick up time when the roads were also busy with commuter traffic.

·         Other members suggested that a pedestrian controlled crossing could be a solution as well as parking measures. It was confirmed that the issue with introducing parking measures was that they were hard to enforce particularly as the issue only occurred for a short period during each school day.

Resolution:

The Local Committee agreed to:

      i.        Allow the county councils Safer Travel Team to investigate concerns raised by the petition using the Road Safety Outside Schools Policy

     ii.        The outcome of the safety assessment being reported to the school and local divisional member as well as the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the local committee, containing the results of the road safety education assessment and a description of any potential highway improvements and estimated costs.

Reason for decisions:

The above decisions were made to enable the SCC Safer Travel Team to conduct a Road Safety Outside Schools Assessment and report back their findings and recommendations for improvements that could be implemented, if appropriate.