Petition - To obtain a safer road crossing or traffic control measures on Underwood Road outside Stoke Park Junior School

Thank you for your correspondence regarding the crossing outside Stoke Park Junior School.

I am pleased to advise that we have recently made an appointment to the School Crossing Patrol vacancy, pending employment checks, and hope to have the site operational soon.

All schools in Hampshire are encouraged to carry out School Travel Planning. This is a good way of being able to identify where road safety concerns exist and the locations where children and their parents experience the most difficulty on the journey to and from school. The process also helps to review the needs of pedestrians, and other road users, with the aim of improving safety, encouraging walking and cycling, whilst exploring travel options to reduce car usage, as well as support a healthy lifestyle. The development of a travel plan is led by the school, with support from the County Council, using the Modeshift STARS online travel planning toolkit and works towards national travel planning awards. The process can help to attract investment for the development of travel initiatives and highway infrastructure improvement, such as school warning lights and an school advisory 20mph.Our School Travel Planning Team will be happy to advise the school should they wish to explore this further.

The County Council also offer road safety education and training aimed at helping children to improve their road skills. Our Safer Roads Education team deliver specific training and work closely with partner organisations including the Police and Fire and Rescue services to coordinate these activities. More information is available on our website by following the link: https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadsafety

I note your request for a formal pedestrian crossing facility. The County Council has adopted a policy on pedestrian crossings which gives guidance on the circumstances where a controlled crossing facility, including a Zebra crossing, may be considered further. The criteria adopted takes account of the number of pedestrians crossing and the traffic flow which combined determines the level of crossing difficulty and the need for a facility to be considered. The underlying principle to the criteria is that controlled crossings will only operate satisfactorily if they are used on a regular basis throughout the day as where there are few pedestrians for most of the day drivers may not recognise the crossing in operation and pedestrian safety may be compromised. Conversely where traffic flows are lower pedestrians can cross comfortably in the gaps in traffic flow. Furthermore, sites do need to be suitable for a controlled crossing and this means also making a technical assessment of available space as well as other factors including traffic speed, visibility, plus junctions and private entrances. I have asked our Intelligent Mobility team to carry out an initial site review of this location. I have attached a link to further information on our web site which you may find helpful. https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadsafety/pedestriancrossings

I trust this information is helpful.

Yours sincerely

Councillor Rob Humby
Deputy Leader
Executive Member for Economy, Transport and Environment