Castle Point MP, Rebecca Harris has managed to get the withdrawal of a popular lollipop school crossing patrol reviewed after finding Essex County Council’s traffic assessment at the junction of the crossing did not take into account all traffic.
The crossing, at the mini-roundabout junction of Seaview Road and Point Road on Canvey, served Leigh Beck Junior and Infant Schools and was also popular with pensioners looking to cross Seaview Road to get to the local post office. It was withdrawn by the county council at the beginning of the Autumn Term after they assessed that there was not enough traffic to justify it.
Concerned parents contacted local MP Rebecca and after meeting some of the parents on the school run and seeing the rush hour traffic at the crossing for herself, she took the matter up with Essex County Council. Rebecca discovered that despite the crossing being located on the literal edge of the mini-roundabout on the junction, the assessment only counted traffic turning into or out of Seaview Road and did not take into account any of the traffic entering the junction from Point Road. After discussing the matter with Cabinet Member for Highways at Essex County Council, Cllr Rodney Bass, it was agreed that county would undertake another assessment of all the traffic that passes through the junction on a school day before the end of the Autumn Term.
Rebecca said:
“The crossing literally follows the painted white line on the edge of a mini-roundabout on one of the busiest roads in the borough. When parents and children have to take into account traffic entering and leaving the junction travelling in all directions then any assessment of the traffic flow at the site should do too.
“I don’t think this was done on purpose, it was more a gap in the guidelines for such assessments. I am glad that common sense has prevailed and am grateful to the County Council for agreeing to do another assessment that includes all the traffic travelling along Point Road through the junction too.
“A little further up Point Road opposite the schools, the County Council consider the traffic flow to be so great that it requires a lollipop patrol at the zebra crossing, so I will be very surprised if when the traffic flow of both Seaview and Point roads is considered they don’t think it warrants a patrol.”
Local parent, Mrs Alison Pettit-Toomey, who has children at both Leigh Beck Infant and Junior Schools said:
“I am very pleased that Rebecca has got the crossing reassessed for us. It is a busy junction and we parents definitely need it back!”
Councillor Colin Lechford, the newly elected Independent Councillor for Canvey Island East who won his seat off the Canvey Island Independent Party in a by-election two weeks ago, has also been calling for the crossing patrol to be returned and has made a recording of all the traffic travelling through the junction on a school day to help the campaign. He said:
“I am really pleased for the residents and I am very pleased Rebecca Harris has been able to use her influence to get the crossing reassessed. I would like to see local residents respect double yellow lines as illegal parking makes it even more dangerous and I will be asking for more coverage from traffic wardens.”