Report to:	Lead Member for Transport and Environment
Date of meeting:	19 September 2022
By:	Director of Communities, Economy and Transport
Title:	Petition: Make Compton Place Road safe for school children
Purpose:	To consider the need for road safety improvements in Compton Place Road, Eastbourne

RECOMMENDATIONS: The Lead Member is recommended to advise petitioners that:

(1) Pedestrian Guard Railing cannot be installed in the footway between Vicarage Road and Beechwood Crescent as it is not appropriate in these circumstances;

(2) A potential road safety improvement scheme for Compton Place Road has been assessed through our approved High Level Sift process and is not a priority for the County Council at the present time; and

(3) Petitioners may wish to consider taking a potential scheme forward through Community Match. A Feasibility Study (at a cost of £500) and speed data (at a cost of £422 per site) would be required prior to a Community Match application.

1 Background Information

1.1 At the County Council meeting on 12 July 2022, a petition was presented to the Chairman from a group of residents and parents/carers from the Compton Place Road area of Eastbourne. The group believe that the traffic situation around Compton Place Road, in the vicinity of Gildredge House School, requires urgent review with a view to:

· Installing a railing on the pavement between Vicarage Road and Beechwood Crescent to prevent vehicles from mounting the pavement and children from falling into the road

· Carry out a full safety assessment of the use and lay-out of Compton Place Road and implement necessary safety measures.

2 Supporting Information

2.1 Compton Place Road is covered by a 30mph speed limit, as indicated by the system of street lighting in the road.

2.2 Compton Place Road is a residential road, with many properties having off-street parking facilities. There is a footway on both sides of the road, and access to Gildredge House School is to the south of Beechwood Crescent. Borough Lane is located to the north of the school. A location plan can be found at Appendix A.

2.3 Parking is restricted by double yellow lines on the western side of Compton Place Road, between Vicarage Lane and Beechwood Crescent. Beechwood Crescent and Compton Place Road have the restriction of ‘No Waiting Monday to Friday 8am-5pm’ with some sections of unrestricted parking on Compton Place Road. The parking restrictions can be seen at Appendix B. There is a zebra crossing on Compton Place Road to the south of the school access towards Paradise Drive.

2.4 The crash data supplied by Sussex Police for the five-year period up to 30 June 2022 shows that there have been no crashes resulting in personal injury within Compton Place Road, between Vicarage Road and Paradise Drive. There has been one crash resulting in slight personal injury at the junction of Borough Lane and Church Street. This is shown at Appendix C.

2.5. National guidance is for the use of guard railing to be greatly reduced as, if used inappropriately, it has been found to have a negative effect on safety with pedestrians and cyclists being trapped between a vehicle and the railing. The purpose of pedestrian guard railing is to separate pedestrians from a live carriageway at safety critical locations – it is not designed for use as a vehicle restraint system and would not provide the protection to pedestrians being sought. Typically, we would provide sections of guard rail to the kerbside where a footpath emerges from between buildings or outside school gates. In both these cases pedestrians are entering the highway from a traffic sterile environment; the pedestrian guard railing draws attention to that and prevents pedestrians stepping into the carriageway before realising their surroundings. Guard railing may also be found in the immediate vicinity of controlled crossings where there is a preferred crossing point.

2.6. The County Council has a limited amount of funding to develop local transport improvements and we need to ensure that we target our resources to those schemes which will be of greatest benefit to our local communities. To help us prioritise the numerous requests received for improvements, we developed a process to determine which schemes should be funded through our Integrated Transport Programme. Since 2016, a total of 7 assessments have been carried out for a variety of road safety improvements in Compton Place Road. The most recent assessment was carried out prior to the drafting of this report in August 2022. The assessments have been for traffic calming measures, a one-way system, relocation of the existing pedestrian crossing, a 20mph speed limit, a school safety zone and footway improvements. None of the assessments have met the benchmark score to be taken forward for further detailed appraisal.

3 Conclusion and Reasons for Recommendations

3.1 It is recommended that the Lead Member notes that Compton Place Road has been assessed for a variety of improvements several times over the last 7 years and agrees that the progression of road safety improvements in the vicinity of Gildredge House School is not presently a priority for funding from the County Council’s budget. However, appropriate improvements could be considered should an alternative source of income become available or an application through Community Match was successful.

3.2 In order to determine what measures could be suitable in Compton Place Road, prior to a Community Match application, it is suggested that the petitioners contact Eastbourne Borough Council to ascertain whether they would be interested in supporting a scheme to try and influence traffic conditions in the road. They would then need to commission a Feasibility Study at a cost of £500 and speed data at a cost of £422 per site. This would help to identify possible improvements for further discussions and provide the group concerned with an estimate of what they might cost to assist in their budget considerations.

RUPERT CLUBB

Director of Communities, Economy and Transport

Contact Officer: Victoria Bartholomew
Tel. No. 01424 724 284
Email: Victoria.Bartholomew@eastsussex.gov.uk

LOCAL MEMBERS

Councillor Pat Rodohan

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS

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