Cotswolds News
150 people sign petition for pedestrian crossing
3:00pm Thursday 9th February 2012
MORE than 150 people have pledged their support for a pedestrian crossing in Bourton.
Resident Patrick Moss spoke to members of the parish council last Wednesday about the “strength of feeling” in the village surrounding the issue.
He and his wife Ginie, a teacher at the Cotswold School, are calling for a zebra crossing on Station Road outside the school after “several near-miss” accidents.
Since they started the petition last week, more than 150 signatures were gathered in just three days including the heads and deputy heads of the Cotswold School and Bourton Primary. Support has also been pledged from local businesses including the post office, Spar and hairdressers Fusion.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr Moss said there was no crossing outside the school on Station Road out of supervised hours.
“There is quite a feeling that the parish council has not taken the opportunity to do anything about this,” he said.
“The overall desire is for a permanent 24/7 crossing – either a zebra, pelican or traffic lights – just something to keep the children safe. We will follow it up with Highways and the local MP.”
He added that after canvassing residents and businesses, there was a strong feeling that there should be a crossing in the centre of the village too.
Council chairman Bryan Sumner said: “We don’t have any money to spend on crossings. It comes under the remit of the county council and Highways.
“I am sorry if any residents think that we have been inactive but we have pursued this on a number of occasions.”
Councillor Bill Wragge, a member of the traffic and footpaths committee, said he would address Highways with Mr Moss over the issue.
Jenny Watkins, Gloucestershire Highways manager, said: “We have to follow Department for Transport guidelines when considering a new crossing so an investigation would need to be carried out to determine if it meets the required guidelines before we could proceed.
This means looking at several factors including the number of people crossing the road, traffic flow, road use, surrounding environment, accident history, traffic speeds, accessibility and visibility.”
According to the county council, since 2007 there have been two minor accidents and one serious one on Station Road.