Final blow for Grimsby zebra crossing campaigners
A last attempt to get the council to change its mind on installing a zebra crossing in St Nicholas Drive, Grimsby[1], has been unsuccessful.
More than 1,200 people signed a petition[2] sent into the council earlier this year, calling for a zebra crossing on the road, between the Jubilee Inn and a pathway through to Timberley Drive. It was rejected based on officers’ recommendation last month[3].
However, Freshney Ward Cllr Steve Holland called the decision in[4], challenging in particular the limited time data was collected on pedestrian traffic at St Nicholas Drive. The call-in went before North East Lincolnshire Council[5]‘s Economy Scrutiny Panel on November 8.
Councillor members of the panel split along party lines, with the Conservative majority choosing not to defer the decision, as was called for. Cllr Holland told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) he was “extremely disappointed” the panel did not support installing the zebra crossing, which “so many residents have demanded”.
When first decided on last month, it was heard that the council recorded footfall of people crossing St Nicholas Drive over two days, between 9am and 3pm. On the higher of the two, 49 people crossed the road. Petition organiser Barry Everett and Cllr Holland challenged why this count did not include the busiest crossing periods, at school drop-off and pick-up times.
The exclusion of the busier times was justified by an officer because of the existing presence of a school lollipop man. When calling it in, Cllr Holland reported officers were willing to carry out a new survey at the busier times.
“The council has promised to do the surveys again, and do them properly this time – surely it would make sense to defer a decision until that work had been done. Residents, who have called for the crossing because of claimed near-misses, have been conducting their own surveys in the absence of proper official surveys.
“On Friday November 3rd, between 08:30am and 09:00am, 171 children and adults crossed the road there with the help of the lollipop man. If we were in just about any other country in Europe, with those sort of numbers we wouldn’t even be arguing about this.”
Cllr Steve Holland, pictured: “This issue is not going away.” (Image: Copyright Unknown)
“The council says this isn’t about money, in which case why are they making every effort to stop the zebra crossing that residents say is needed?” questioned Cllr Holland. When it was first rejected in October, Cllr Stewart Swinburn, portfolio holder for environment and transport, strongly rejected suggestions finances in any way shaped the decision, saying he had to follow the guidance of professionals, which recommended no need for the crossing.
He did also request officers looked into making markings clearer, and promised the concerns raised would not be forgotten about. “We will monitor this situation, but at the present time, I think I have to go with the officers’ recommendation.”
Cllr Holland said of the Economy Scrutiny Panel meeting: “The two Labour councillors present at the meeting supported the decision being deferred to allow time to consider new information and raised some very good points, but all the Conservative councillors present voted against it. I’ll continue to support local residents on this, some of whom feel very strongly. This issue is not going away.
“The council says that ‘All people should live in a safe environment, can have their say about things that are important to them and participate fully in their community’. It seems to me that this council only wants people to have their say if they agree with the council – otherwise they are ignored.”
In response to these comments, a North East Lincolnshire Council[6] spokesperson said: “The Council considers the safety of the public is of the utmost importance. A safety assessment of the St Nicholas site has been completed and there is no firm evidence of speeding or road safety issues at this location. We will keep this crossing point under review and if it can be evidenced that a crossing is needed, we’ll look at this again.”
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References
- ^ Grimsby (www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ More than 1,200 people signed a petition (www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ rejected based on officers’ recommendation last month (www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ Freshney Ward Cllr Steve Holland called the decision in (www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ North East Lincolnshire Council (www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ North East Lincolnshire Council (www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ click the link (tinyurl.com)
- ^ Privacy Notice (bit.ly)