YEAR Six pupils at a Warrington primary school are so concerned at the “horrendous speed” of traffic passing their school that they have written to the borough council’s traffic management department.
The letter, written by a pupil called “Charlie” on behalf of his classmates at Brook Acre Primary School, on Hilden Road, Padgate, was also sent to local councillor Geoff Settle.
It gives details of a traffic survey carried out his the class and set out in the form of a bar chart.
In his letter, Charlie wrote: “I am writing to complain about the unreasonable amount of traffic passing Brook Acre School on Hilden Road. A few weeks ago my class organised traffic survey and discovered that more than 45 cars drove down the road in 10 minutes. This is causing noise and pollution, which is bad for the environment.” 
Cllr Settle – a governor at the school – welcomed the action taken by the pupils to collect, collate and present their findings.
He said “As the school’s maths governor I am very pleased to see our pupils presenting their concerns and arguments in a well-constructed letter and displaying the results in graphs that show their understanding of maths.”
He plans to meet with the class and, hopefully, take along someone from traffic management and the police to discuss the issues raised in the letter.
Cllr Settle added: “It was only two weeks ago that similar concerns were raised by the chair of Brook Acre Residents Association and also at last week’s parish council by Cllr Billy Lines-Rowland.
“I am in the process of organising a meeting to discuss the results from a recent local automatic traffic survey 
carried out following a complaint from a local about the speed of cars that he claims are using the roads between Hilden and Capesthorne as what they describe as a ‘rat run’. The results have recently been analysed and they are ready to be presented to the community and the date and venue will be announced in the next couple of weeks.”
Charlie’s letter also draws attention to the fact that motorists appear to be ignoring road signs.
He writes: “I think that a bigger sign is needed at Hilden roundabout to make drivers aware that this road is for people who live, work and are dropping people off. This is dangerous because one day a child may be hit by a car”.
Brook Acre is not alone in experiencing traffic issues.
Cllr Settle has been working closely with the traffic management department and local PCSOs over the last couple of years requesting and reviewing evidence from automatic traffic surveys in Poulton North.
He said “During the last two years I have commissioned four traffic surveys and held six public meetings where the results have been
discussed and debated. These surveys record the speed and volume of traffic and have been held at sites in Longbarn, Cinnamon Brow, Fearnhead and Brook Acre.
“We are treating all concerns raised very seriously and we have used the data to identify actions that we believe will mitigate the risks and produce a safer environment.
“Examples so far have included new signs to stop vehicles over 7.5 tonnes passing St Bridget’s Catholic Primary School, requests for double yellow lines and zigzag lines to be repainted outside Cinnamon Brow and Christ Church primary schools, refresher road safety courses for pupils and notices in school newsletters warning parents of the dangers of unauthorised parent parking. It is hoped that the peer pressure from Year Six at Brook Acre will result in more road safety initiatives.”
A council spokesman said: “Cllr Settle forwarded to our traffic management department a thoughtful and informative letter from a Year Six pupil, which included a traffic survey conducted by his class.
Council officers and Cllr Settle will be attending a meeting to listen to the concerns of the children and other residents. The meeting is expected to take place towards the end of the month in order to allow officers to capture more data so that they can respond more fully.”
Pictures: Brook Acre School, the school crossing and Cllr Settle
15 Comments
Geoff…. if you really want to sort this out; get the speed camera vans to sit on the likes of Hilden Road and others where schools are situated to actually contribute to the road safety debate rather than allow them to actively target motorists for money on the likes of Cromwell Avenue (Where they sit at the bottom of a blind hill on a road which should be a 40mph road anyway) and Manchester Road which is another favourite. These two places are purely revenue generators with the Cromwell Avenue trap mainly used when traffic to the Gemini Retail Park is at its highest…. We only have a couple of these vans in Warrington and using them to fleece money rather than to enforce road safety around schools is a disgrace. I am obviously not advocating speeding in any areas but the vans are not actively pursuing their supposed primary aim; which is road safety (or so we are led to believe)
Thanks for your support on these issues.
How fast was that blurred police car going?
Other Council’s are installing cameras around their schools to pick up traffic offenders – speeders and parkers – both of whom are pose real threats to road safety. As Baz says why not concentrate the effort where the threat has been evident for some time?
Whilst ‘access only’ can’t be enforced on Hilden Road because of the Spar, post office and tanning salon (chav central) it should be enforced with entry to the Hilden Brook estate, this is constantly used as a rat run, cars do not slow down for the speed humps on the estate which is evident of the deep gouges on the road, in addition to this the couple of individuals that think that it’s OK to ride their overpowered hair dryers up and down the pavement without helmets along the park where kids play, I’ve reported this several times and it’s only a matter of time before a child is seriously injured or worst killed as they step out of the bushes.
My comment about support refers to Warrington Worldwide.
Not fast it is just the camera angle that makes it look so.
Baz if motorists stuck to the speed limits which are there for valid reasons then there wouldn’t be an issue would there?
Tina and Baz – this article is about the concerns of pupils in year 6 and where they see the threat and that is where the focus is for this local community.
How many accidents have there actually been on this stretch of road?
Hi roadrunner as you can see in the article an automatic survey has been commissioned at the bequest of the local residents. The results are being analysed and a details will be published very soon. As for the hairdryers do you mean the electric mini bikes – these are a problem and 2 have been crushed – I followed and reported a third recently. They are as you say dangerous and any evidence you have names and addresses is very welcome.
“….at the bequest of local residents..”; where there’s a will there’s a way.
I don’t know but I think action is triggered in places where there have been a 2 or 3 involving injuries during a 3 year period. Lets hope that we don’t reach that situation.
Isn’t the pupils’ and Parish Council’s concern about road safety outside their school as well as noise and pollution caused by a high volume of traffic?
Geoff… that is a fine and typical politician style response but as I said; why do the Police concentrate their speed cameras on areas where there have been NO reported speed related collisions such as on Cromwell Avenue (and as I also said; why is this a 30mph when there are no houses, no schools or no anything that backs onto the road? there are verges and hedges on one side and verges and an industrial park on the other)……if there are real concerns about speeding motorists near schools; You as a political representative have a duty to get the Police to target those areas and get the Police away from their revenue generating persecution of motorists. They deliberately target the areas they know will generate cash rather than where they are really needed