Renewed calls for crossing near Gobowen school

Parish councillors in the village agreed last night to again press the case for the safety improvements on St Martins Road.

The councillors also agreed to look at ways of how to discourage people using School Lane in the village as a short cut over concerns speeding traffic could injure a child walking to school.

Campaigners have been battling for more than a year for a crossing on St Martins Road and hundreds of people signed a petition calling for the improvements.

They say the crossing will allow children to reach Gobowen Primary School which is on the nearby School Lane safely.

A group of villagers went to a Shropshire Council meeting in Shirehall in Shrewsbury in the spring of last year just before the local authority elections to press their case and they were told their campaign would be given priority.

Highways officers say the current 2014/15 capital programme which could include the crossing remains in draft at this time and Shropshire Council's cabinet will review it in June.

Shropshire Councillor David Lloyd last night urged the parish council to again press the case for the safety improvement by writing to Shirehall bosses.

He said: "I would remind them we are coming up to the anniversary of when, accompanied by a handful of petitioners, we took the case for a crossing to Shirehall.

"People are still waiting. We would like it not to slip out of the programme."

The parish council agreed to make the St Martins Road crossing appeal a road safety priority and also agreed to ask Shropshire Council to look at how School Lane could be made safer.

Councillor Percy Cherrington said he was concerned about the speed and volume of traffic travelling up and down the road, with some of the problems caused by parents dropping off their children.

The road should only be used by residents for access, the meeting heard, but Councillor Cherrington said: "It is like a public road, the number of cars that go up and down.

"One of these days somebody is going to get hurt. The parents are not parking where they should."

Councillor Sarah Heap, who lives on School Lane, said the no access signs were as not as obvious as they could be.

Councillor Lloyd suggested that investigations could be held by highways bosses on whether the road could be made one way.

Councillor Robert Macey said the school was as "frustrated as anyone" that some parents were still coming up School Lane to drop off their children.