School still waiting on fix for safety signs a year after they first malfunctioned
Safety signs on a busy road outside a school entrance are still awaiting repair – a year after they first started malfunctioning.
Now Bishop's Castle councillor Ruth Houghton says she’s hopeful the work at Norbury and Stiperstones CofE School in Norbury will be completed early in the new year following a “near miss” during the last school term.
The sign was installed in a package of safety measures outside the main entrance to the school, which sits on a national speed limit stretch of road between Lydham and Pulverbatch, but stopped working around 12 months ago.
Councillor Houghton said: “I understand it might be fixed in the new year – but it needs to be early in 2024, it’s really quite serious. It’s a tiny narrow pavement and we really need those signs fixed as soon as possible.
“They’ve been out for 12 months – I’ve been making a fuss because we’ve had a near miss. I went to cabinet and said we’d had a near miss the week before and didn’t get a very good answer from the portfolio holder, but they need fixing as soon as possible.”
Earlier this month, Shropshire Council revealed a list of 21 schools in the county which it had identified for high-priority 20mph speed restrictions, which included Norbury School.
The programme could include various traffic calming measures to support the introduction of 20mph limits.
“There aren’t any timescales around that yet, there’s supposed to be some consultation and I don’t know the timescales but frankly it’s not before time that the school is included,” added Councillor Houghton.
“I’ve asked the question whether they’d do any additional safety work when they prioritise with schools and that’s not clear yet either – really the pavement needs to be wider which means taking the hedge out and going into school grounds, but I don’t know if that will happen.”
Shropshire Council was contacted for comment.
In a statement issued earlier this month the authority said traffic calming work would be taking place next year as part of the first phase of their wider 20mph programme, which identifies a further 37 schools.
It said: "A forward programme of design and delivery work has been developed, and the council will now start to carry out engagement with the first batch of schools, as well as the local councillors whose divisions the schools fall in. Following this, engagement will be carried out with local communities to seek their comments.
“There is no single generic approach for the introduction of a 20mph speed restriction, and site-specific characteristics will determine the level of intervention that may be required.”
