'Make our roads safe' (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

'Make our roads safe'

TWO schools are joining forces to try to make the streets safer for their children.

Parents and governors at Grange Infants and Grange Juniors, in Stratton, want pedestrian crossings installed on the road outside their schools.

They say traffic problems in the area make walking to school difficult and dangerous for the pupils at the junior school in Grange Drive and the infant school in Ermin Street.

They have asked the council to put in crossings and are now organising a meeting to demonstrate how much support their idea has.

Alison Clements, whose son Torin, six, and daughter Kerenza, 10, attend the infant and junior schools, is worried about safety.

"The traffic is quite heavy when I am taking the kids to school and coming out," said Mrs Clements, 40, of Yiewsley Crescent.

"We are trying to encourage more people to walk.

"But a large part of the reason they are not walking is that there are no safe crossings.

"It is a vicious circle."

And Mrs Clements, who is a governor at the junior school, would not be happy about Kerenza walking home alone unless there was a crossing for her to use.

"Even at 10 or 11 they are not very experienced at crossing the road," she said.

"And if cars are parked up the children are coming out from between cars."

Earlier this year governor Roger Smith, who has a daughter Hannah, nine, and twins Daniel and Thomas, seven, at the schools, put together a travel plan for the junior school.

It has been accepted by the council.

So the juniors will receive £5,800 which it will use to create a third gate at the school.

This will link to a footpath so fewer children have to negotiate the main road as they leave the school.

"But the main element and the reason we are having the meeting is to garner community support for safe crossings one on Ermin Street and one on Grange Drive," said Mr Smith.

"Providing crossings would make it safer for children and give parents reassurance.

"Our survey of parents and pupils which took place earlier this year already shows that about 60 per cent of pupils walk to the junior school.

"It also highlighted the concerns of parents in crossing Ermin Street and Grange Drive.

"We know that this problem exists. The council should provide the crossings as soon as possible."

The results of a travel plan survey for the infant school will be given at the meeting.

The schools have now put in bids to the council for crossings to be provided.

A highways officer will attend the meeting later this month and a Swindon council spokesman said a decision about whether the crossings get the go-ahead would be made in early December.

The public meeting will start at 7.45pm on Tuesday, October 18, at the St Margaret's Centre on Kenwin Close in Lower Stratton.

Isabel Field