06/06/13…Thame council acts on ‘unsafe’ park entrance
FOLLOWING concerns about the safety of the pedestrian entrance to Elms Park, Thame Town Council is to test various layouts using a temporary barrier, and will seek the advice of the road safety organisation, RoSPA.
At a meeting of the council’s Culture, Leisure and Recreation committee on Tuesday (04/06), Richard Jeffries, who lives opposite the park in Park Street, spoke about safety concerns on behalf of the Headteacher of John Hampden School, Alan Haigh, other neighbours and the school’s parent governors, and said that a previous RoSPA report had clearly highlighted ‘a medium risk to cyclists’. It goes on to suggest that installing a gate could reduce the risk. Full report HERE
Mr Jeffries wanted to know what had changed the council’s mind between 2008, when it approved a side, pedestrian gate (now missing) and now, when it deems one unnecessary. He asked: “Are you happy to shoulder the responsibility for any accident that may occur here?”
During the debate at Tuesday’s meeting, there was much discussion about whether a self-closing gate would be practical or could trap fingers, and about alternatives, including creating a chicane at right-angles to the path further inside the entrance.
The Clerk reported that there had been no reported incidents or safety issues raised since the entrance had been changed. Cllr Champken Woods however, said: “The problem will be when there is an accident. I do not want to be a part of that. There is a perceived risk to cyclists. We should act as quickly as possible. This is urgent.”
In her report to the council, the Clerk, Helen Stewart, said: “The plans that accompanied the planning application did show a matching iron gate in the public access entrance and the design and access statement when reviewed recently did refer to a self closing gate.
“The mystery as to both of these points is still unresolved; there are no Minutes agreeing the
commissioning of such a gate and there isn?t a matching one available from catalogues. The practicalities of the gate being self closing had also never been assessed from an access audit position either.”
Background
It seems that the town council’s Planning committee did consider the plan for a side gate LINK HERE in July 2008, expressing ‘No Strong Views’ before the application was sent on to SODC who approved it. No mention is made of leaving out the side gate from the plans.
In the end, at Tuesday’s meeting, the committee agreed to a proposal to place a temporary barrier at various places, get the comments of users, and assess where the best place for something permanent would be. It was also agreed to ask RoSPA for further advice.
