Dear friends, neighbours and residents.
I have recently had several complaints about near misses by parents and pensioners after one of our crossing patrol staff had to isolate. I was also told that there is no reserve crossing patrol person if the current person is off, as it is hard to recruit someone.
This is very concerning to me and I would like the feedback of Aycliffe East, St. Mary’s & Shafto Ward residents.
Durham County Council Road Safety Officer was contacted by me via the ‘doitonline’ website. I was told only 200-250 people cross three times a day (five days a week), but there are 900 pupils at Woodham Academy and 400 at Vane Road.
The crossing at Law Court traffic lights never gets this volume of pedestrians and Central Avenue must, I believe, be the busiest non-industrial road for traffic in and out of town. It certainly has the most pedestrians crossing. Only Greenfield School could almost rival it on Burnhill Way but with far less constant traffic. There are very few pedestrian crossings in the fourth largest town in County Durham. My mother’s village in North Yorkshire has as many crossings with about 25% of our 40,000 population.
I do not accept that Central Avenue does not have continuous use at Vane Road, with two bus stops on either side of two schools, the only local shop for half a mile and a main route through the Burn from East to North Aycliffe. Please contact me and/or email ‘doitonline’ if you agree with my serious concerns.
The Police stopped thirty motorists speeding in one day on Central Avenue last year. Our children and elderly deserve better protection and safety, as does the crossing patrol staff.
Thank you.
Cllr Tony Armstrong
BA (Hons) HND PGCE
tony4aycliffe@gmail.com