A few years ago complaints about speeding and terrible parking near Junction Farm School led Egglescliffe Parish Council to ask for action from Stockton Borough Council. The Community Engineer drew up plans for traffic calming along Butterfield Drive and for parking restrictions near the school. During the consultation people from the Birchfield Drive area pointed out that "rat-runners" would simply use their road as the cut through so a wider scheme was drawn up and consulted on. Broad agreement was found, but no money for implementation.
Fast forward to September 2011. The Western Area Transport Strategy group meets to finalise the spending of its budget. Thanks to underspends on some things agreed earlier in the summer there's a bit of the budget left. The group agrees to fund the provision of a staggered barrier on one of the approaches to Allen's West level crossing to minimise the risk to children approaching it. Still a few hundred remain - not enough for any of the schemes which had been put forward unsuccessfully. Eventually it was agreed to spend that money on the necessary statutory consultation on traffic calming on Orchard Estate, so that if the funding becomes available next financial year the scheme could go ahead quickly.
Last week the consultation notices went up on lamp posts. Immediately the questions have started to arrive on the phone and by email. Alan and I will try to get round and answer as many as possible this week, and hope that those who want to comment do write in to the address given (Mr D E Bond, Stockton Borough Council) and make their views known. There's a balance to strike between the safety of the children at the school and the comfort of car users moving round the estate. Let's hope residents help us to get it right.
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