Footpath 32 and safer routes to school

By N Cutting | Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 20:05

Yes, you may not believe it, but at long last (say, 50+ years) Briar Way (a busy narrow road) is going to have footpath 32 actually fit for walking along. I say busy, but it’s mainly used by children going to and from Ashlyns and Thomas Corum Schools, both by the able-bodied by actually walking and the disabled, who have to be carted in their 4 wheel motorised chair to as near as possible to Thomas Corum School..

Naturally, many other disabled children go to this school so the cunning carer/chauffeur has to drop their charges off, on the lower entrance to Velvet Lawn, due to the numbers using the Swing Gate Lane entrance.

However, those cunning County Council people will be doing their best to stop this abuse, by installing metal railings, yellow lines and a hump on the corner of Swing Gate Lane as well as narrowing the junction by 4 feet so the worn out road won’t need so much tarmac if they ever get round to resurfacing instead of patching it. A similar project is planned for the Thomas Moore School (is it Thomas’s fault, you have to ask?) up near Greenway, so don’t say you didn’t know!

Re-post Write a story

Ads by Google

Comments

Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to build the school there in the 1st place, let alone alter the road layout from a single track winding lane to a wider, straighter highway.
It would not be difficult to widen the corner, move the 'crossing' nearer the school and off the bend.
County have told me that if the wardens don't think they can police the area, they will object. They must object then, as they don't police any of the school areas, so why should this one be different? Swing Gate Lane in the am/pm school 'run' has vehicles just strewn all over the pavements and highway even now.
Briar Way is actually Footpath 32. When the Council houses were built just after the war, the current concrete road was laid. Cars were not a problem as there wasn't even the schools there (Foundling Hospital wasn't taken over by HCC until 1951). Naturally, councils build things without any consideration on the effect - just like housing policies 'forget' little details like utilities that are barely adequate without the additions.
I'd better stop now, otherwise I'll start going on about all the other things that need resolving.

By N Cutting at 14:08 on 25/11/10
Report
Norman - your opinion on the need for improving safety at the junction of Swing Gate Lane/ Chestnut Drive/ Upper Hall Park clearly differs from mine. This junction has a lethal combination of blind bends, a staggered, 4-way junction, (very) limited road markings, badly parked as well as speeding, vehicles, and busy at school times. I have written to the County to congratulate them on the proposed improvements and suggested others - like pedestrian priority, which was turned down.... perish the thought of slowing down the 'persecuted' motorist !

Herts Highways want to 'encourage' parents of kids at Thos. Coram to drop their charges off in Cedar Way for them to walk the rest of the way - a 'park and stride' scheme (!). That would entail an uphill walk of around 400m to school for the little darlings - how would they manage ?!!

Regarding Briar Way, I wonder why the footpath wasn't surfaced at the same time as the one from Briar Way to Swing Gate Lane (you may know). I still think that a surfaced footpath inside Velvet Lawn is the right solution, if funds permit.

paul

By crozzie at 11:33 on 25/11/10
Report