Agenda item

To receive any petitions in accordance with Standing Order 14.1. An officer response will be provided to each petition.

Two petitions have been received:

The first petition is from Claire Jones regarding St Lawrence Primary School.  The petition is requesting a safety review, provision of a safe pedestrian access by pelican crossing or a crossing attendant.

The second petition is from Michael Hammond calling on Guildford Joint Committee to bring into force parking restrictions to stop antisocial parking in Belmont Avenue.

Declarations of interest: None

Officers present: Duncan Knox, Road Safety Manager, SCC

Petition presented by Ms Claire Jones regarding St Lawrence Primary School, requesting a safety review, provision of a safe pedestrian access by pelican crossing or a crossing attendant. (see supplementary agenda for petition details and officer response).

St Lawrence School is located on the corner of four busy roads in Effingham – Effingham Common Road, Lower Road, The Street and Orestan Lane.  The junction of these roads are served by two mini roundabouts and it is unacceptably dangerous to cross the roads to the school.There are two main points where children and parents cross to the school with no proper lights or crossing and no traffic crossing attendant.  The traffic islands are inadequate protection because of the speed of traffic on these roads and the school signage on the roads is inadequate.  There is also an exceptional amount of cars parked along and off all of these roads making it impossible for children to cross further up the roads to avoid this junction.

My petition is also supported by Effingham Residents Association the Parish Council, the local church of St Lawrence and the school community. I am pleased the Safer Travel Team will carry out a safety assessment.  But at the end of the process I hope to see concrete highway improvements introduced such as a pelican crossing and a 20 mile limit in this area during school opening and closing times and a traffic crossing attendant. The school currently heavily promotes walking and cycling to school but the majority of parents will not allow this to happen especially unattended until measures are taken to make the crossings to the school safer.

Member discussion - key points:

The Road Safety Manager stated that the team would investigate the situation using the SCC Road Safety Policy which would also involve the police. He updated that officers had met with the Headmaster and he was very positive towards school road safety training and is committed to developing a road safety policy.  The site visit to the area was coming up in the next few days.

Resolved:

The Joint Committee agreed to:

(i)            Agree to allow the county councils Safer Travel Team to investigate concerns raised by the Effingham Safety petition using the Road Safety Outside Schools Policy

(ii)           The outcome of the safety assessment will be reported to the school and local County Councillor containing the results of the road safety education assessment and a description of any potential highway improvements and estimated costs will be brought back to a future joint committee for discussion.

(iii)          Note that recommendations will include measures to encourage more sustainable travel which St Lawrence Primary School will be responsible for implementing

Declarations of interest: None

Officers present: Parking Manager, GBC

The second petition was from Michael Hammond calling on Guildford Joint Committee to bring into force parking restrictions to stop antisocial parking in Belmont Avenue.

The view when turning into the Belmont Avenue is restricted until you are on the junction, with parked vehicles on both sides of the road your view is restricted even further. This leaves usable road space for just a single line of traffic and can be very tight for emergency vehicles.

If vehicles are waiting to turn out on to the Worplesdon Road, this prevents vehicles turning in and just last week I witnessed a car just starting to turn left into Belmont Avenue but forced to stop because of vehicles approaching the junction and it had to reverse back on to Worplesdon Road – a dangerous situation. In addition, this bottom section of Belmont Avenue can be particularly congested in the rush hour as the road is used aa a “rat run” for the schools, hospital and university.

When taking this petition round local houses the majority were strongly in favour. This is due to 2 of the vehicles which are regularly parked near the junction being from a local builder and they are parked there during weekdays and weekends and sometimes do not move for several days at a time.  I realise that if the installation of double yellow lines in Belmont Avenue is approved, it will not completely resolve the problem of parked vehicles but it should move the congestion away from the junction with the Worplesdon Road.

Member discussion - key points:

The Parking Manager stated that the Belmont Avenue parking issues would remain on their radar and that there would be opportunities to review this at a later date. Members commented about ensuring the enforcement of yellow lines particularly when they first go in and it stated that the issue raised by petition was something that needed to be keep under review.

Resolved:

The Joint Committee noted the officer’s comments.