Call to make crossings controlled is rejected

A resident’s request that road crossings in St Peter’s Drive be converted to pedestrian control have not been backed by parish councillors.

Members of St Peter’s Parish Council discussed the request, which had been sent to Conservative Steve Mackay, who represents the division on Worcestershire County Council.

He raised the issue at a meeting of the parish council, “to see if there’s an appetite for it”.

He said a ballpark estimate he had been quoted for the required work on the two crossings was £300,000.

That potential cost deterred some parish councillors, with David Saunders, who had been involved with major infrastructure projects, saying: “I can’t for the life of me believe it’s £300,000. It’s ridiculous. You could build a bungalow for that.”

His fellow parish councillor, Roger Knight, said: “I’m not surprised at the cost.”

He explained that during his time as a Worcester city councillor he had been responsible for getting two crossings installed in the city.

He said: “The original quote they gave me for a crossing was astronomical. For one I think it was something like £110,000.

“I went to the papers and said this is ridiculous and they reduced it to £42,000.”

He added that he thought the current crossings on St Peter’s Drive were “okay”, saying: “There’s never actually been an accident in all these years.”

The parish council’s vice-chairman, Paul Walters, said: “I would be very much opposed, not just on grounds of cost.”

He wondered whether “a solution might be a lick of paint” to highlight the white lines on the road.

Parish council chairman Alan Tucker said: “We know from the information from the VAS [vehicular activated sign] we have got is that speeding isn’t necessarily a problem. There is, at times, a low amount of traffic.

“We’re hoping when the SLR [Southern Link Road] is completed it’s going to take traffic off this road.

“Maybe signage might go some way to alleviating the fears of the residents.”

Cllr Mackay said he would look at where signage had been used elsewhere in the county to see if it had worked.