Road risk for pupils
By Jo Deeks on Thursday, 6th May 1999.
PARENTS and teachers are lobbying for safety measures to tackle "hazardous" traffic near three Haverhill schools.
Concerns have been raised many times about the safety of around 1,000 children a day attending the three schools — Burton End Primary School, Castle Hill Middle School and St Felix Primary School — off School Lane.
The narrow junction leads into Burton End, meeting traffic coming into the town centre straight off the roundabout from the by-pass.
Town MP Richard Spring has joined the campaign after meeting Jess Long, headteacher of Burton End Primary School; Mike Motteram, Suffolk County Council’s road safety officer; and Steve Boor of St Edmundsbury Borough Council outside the school.
Mr Spring arranged the meeting after a recent visit to Burton End School, which is close to the junction with the main road.
"I have called this site meeting to ensure that both authorities will be fully aware of the very real dangers posed to children when they arrive and leave the school," he said.
Mrs Long said traffic congestion had been a problem at the school during the five years she had been head teacher at Burton End.
The problem was especially bad on wet days and the number of cars was increasing all the time, she said. "The problem is with cars and coaches coming to three schools it is very congested and some might say hazardous. You have young children coming out between the cars.
"It is an awful shame they did not build a through road so that you could go all the way around. There is also a grass verge on the side of the road and it might be possible to put more parking spaces there.
"There are more and more cars all the time and some people are not always very considerate. But some people do have a very long way to walk and something needs to be done," Mrs Long said.
Mike Motteram said after the meeting that congestion was quite bad compared with other schools he had visited. He said he would be speaking to Mrs Long and Mr Spring about possible action that could be taken.
"There were a massive number of parents milling around outside the school, cars parked on the verge and it was a beautiful day," said Mr Motteram.
"As Mrs Long pointed out, it would be much worse on a rainy day. There obviously is a genuine problem, but there is no simple solution.
"I am optimistic that we can work with the school and parents to improve the situation."
Concerns have been raised many times about the safety of around 1,000 children a day attending the three schools — Burton End Primary School, Castle Hill Middle School and St Felix Primary School — off School Lane.
The narrow junction leads into Burton End, meeting traffic coming into the town centre straight off the roundabout from the by-pass.
Town MP Richard Spring has joined the campaign after meeting Jess Long, headteacher of Burton End Primary School; Mike Motteram, Suffolk County Council’s road safety officer; and Steve Boor of St Edmundsbury Borough Council outside the school.
Mr Spring arranged the meeting after a recent visit to Burton End School, which is close to the junction with the main road.
"I have called this site meeting to ensure that both authorities will be fully aware of the very real dangers posed to children when they arrive and leave the school," he said.
Mrs Long said traffic congestion had been a problem at the school during the five years she had been head teacher at Burton End.
The problem was especially bad on wet days and the number of cars was increasing all the time, she said. "The problem is with cars and coaches coming to three schools it is very congested and some might say hazardous. You have young children coming out between the cars.
"It is an awful shame they did not build a through road so that you could go all the way around. There is also a grass verge on the side of the road and it might be possible to put more parking spaces there.
"There are more and more cars all the time and some people are not always very considerate. But some people do have a very long way to walk and something needs to be done," Mrs Long said.
Mike Motteram said after the meeting that congestion was quite bad compared with other schools he had visited. He said he would be speaking to Mrs Long and Mr Spring about possible action that could be taken.
"There were a massive number of parents milling around outside the school, cars parked on the verge and it was a beautiful day," said Mr Motteram.
"As Mrs Long pointed out, it would be much worse on a rainy day. There obviously is a genuine problem, but there is no simple solution.
"I am optimistic that we can work with the school and parents to improve the situation."
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