Agenda item - Deputations

6.1           The Mayor reported that one Deputation had been received, which concerned a request for a pedestrian crossing at Queen’s Park Terrace and the Mayor invited Mr T Satterthwaite, as the spokesperson, to come forward and address the Council.

6.2           Mr Satterthwaite thanked the Mayor and stated that:

“I am here on behalf of the parents, carers and staff of children at St Luke’s Infant and St Luke’s Junior Schools to present a petition about a crossing in Queen’s Park Terrace.

As part of the Safer Routes to School Initiative in the area of St Luke’s Infant and Junior Schools, the pedestrian island halfway along Queens Park Rise at the junction with St Luke’s Terrace was removed and the pavement was widened.  The intention was to make it safer for parents with their children to walk to school.  Unfortunately the result has been exactly the opposite, we now have parents with their children, two times a day unable to cross the road.  The road is quiet most of the day but in the mornings and late afternoon it becomes very busy and it can be impossible to get across and quite dangerous.  You can have dozens of parents standing lined up along the edge of the road trying to get across, cars do not know they have to stop because there is no crossing.

In my own experience, which is why I became involved in this campaign, I was crossing the junction about six weeks ago with my young son who is three years old, the traffic was stationary and because it was stationary a motor cycle took advantage of that moment to weave through the traffic and missed me and my little boy by about three feet.  The main reason being that there was no crossing, no signage so he did not know that he had to stop.

Myself and two other parents have led a campaign to obtain signatures for a petition to present to you.  We have 389 signatures which if I could read out:

‘We the parents and carers of children at St Luke’s Infant School and St Luke’s Junior School find the junction between Queen’s Park Rise and Queen’s Park Terrace dangerous and difficult to cross.  We call on Brighton & Hove City Council to install a pedestrian crossing at this junction to improve safety and ensure the priority of pedestrians.’

Now, with the weight of various letters to the council there was a review carried out and my understanding is that the decision was to make no changes.  I would assure you that anyone using the junction on a regular basis would profoundly disagree with that.  We have some interest from virtually everybody who ever goes across that crossing from the school.  There has been a mistake made which should be relatively easy to sort out.  A zebra crossing with Belisha beacons is what is clearly needed, so that at quiet times of the day cars can come and go and at busy times cars know to stop and allow children to safely cross with their parents.

A final point I would make is that we ought to encourage children to be able to go to the park, which is at the bottom of this route, on their own safely.  Without a crossing they cannot do this, so I do hope this petition will carry some weight with you and an urgent review will be begun.”

6.3           Councillor Theobald thanked Mr Satterthwaite for outlining the Deputation and stated that: “The safety of road users, especially children, across the city is a very important issue.  In this instance, the current crossing arrangement has been designed, taking into account the response we received to the public consultation and expert technical advice on road safety.  I know that the School Travel team are aware of, and have been looking into, this matter with local Councillors and parents, and a number of further assessments and improvements have been made in response to concerns raised.

By continuing to work together with key people, such as Headteachers and parents, we can ensure that the benefits of schemes like this are maximised for both the school and local communities.

As is the case with other similar schemes, officers will be visiting the site again early in the Autumn Term as part of the monitoring and evaluation process.  Given the level of concern that has been expressed by you today and in the petition, I will ask them to look at this matter again and give further consideration to possible alternative solutions that are safe and feasible.”

6.4           The Mayor thanked Mr Satterthwaite for attending the meeting and speaking on behalf of the Deputation.  He explained that the points made had been noted and along with the petition would now be referred to the Environment & Community Safety Cabinet Member Meeting.  The persons forming the Deputation would be invited to attend the meeting and would be informed subsequently of any action taken or proposed in relation to the matters set out by the Deputation.