Hollingdean road safety concerns falling on ‘deaf ears’

Concerns about the safety of roads near St Joseph’s School and Hertford Infants School in Hollingdean are to be discussed at a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting this week.

Green Party and Labour councillors have been calling for action following pleas from residents and parents to introduce traffic calming measures around the so-called Hollingdean Dip.

A Green Party led petition is to be presented, while Labour councillor Jeane Lepper is to raise the issue at tomorrow’s council meeting.

However, Cllr Lepper, who chairs the Hollingdean Local Action Team, says that previous attempts to raise safety issues with the Tory-led council has ‘fallen on deaf ears’.

Cllr Lepper said: “Time after time I have raised these serious local road safety concerns on behalf of Hollingdean residents and on each occasion it’s fallen on deaf Tory ears. Local people are angry with these let-downs and feel that this Tory administration does not take their concerns seriously.

“I will ask The Tory Cabinet member for the Environment, Councillor Theobald, one last time before the local election, whether he will pledge to take immediate action to improve road safety in Hollingdean, but I am not optimistic about his response. The only way Hollingdean residents can guarantee get safer local roads is by voting Labour this May.”

Update

At Thursday’s council meeting, Cllr Theobald replied to Cllr Lepper saying: “The Council has already taken positive steps to improve road safety at The Dip. The road has undergone a number of improvements that include adjusting road layout and improved signage and lighting. Collision data for the last 3 years shows that these measures have and are working as the number of collisions has fallen significantly compared with the original road layout.

“However, the Council is sensitive to the concerns and perceptions of residents so we have developed a new methodology for assessing the requirements for pedestrian crossings that not only takes accidents into account but also includes pedestrian demand and I will ask officers to look into your request with this in mind.”

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Posted by Joseph Lewis on March 23, 2011. Filed under Featured,Hollingdean,Hollingdean & Stanmer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry