Pupils on safer path (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

£20,000 pavement for school journeys is unveiled

8:00am Sunday 29th January 2012 in Marlborough

WITH some primary pupils at Rushall facing a twice daily walk of about 300 yards along busy main roads without a footpath for much of the way, the parish council decided that one was essential.

On Saturday, the £20,000 new pavement along the main Pewsey-Devizes Road was opened by local county councillor Robert Hall, and Jerry Kunkler who is chairman of Pewsey Area Board.

Previously, children as young as five and their parents had to walk in the road in some places. The parish council said one of its members, John Rogers, realised the dangers.

Coun Rogers said: “What we have done is to complete the footpath to the school and the village hall so that children no longer have to walk along the road.”

Children from the new homes development at Old Barn Field faced the longest walk along the busy main road said Coun Rogers.

“They have to walk home from the school as far as the crossroads where you turn off for Devizes and now they can do so safely,” Coun Rogers said.

The £20,000 was met by grants from Pewsey area board and from the Pewsey Community Area Transport Group.

At Saturday’s opening parish council, chairman Richard Tilbury said: “I would like to thank my fellow councillors for all the hard work, time and enthusiasm that they have given to this project, without which we would not have this wonderful new path.

“In particular, Coun Colin Gale has managed and driven this project, ably supported by Coun John Rogers and former councillor Julian Ridge.

“None of this would be possible without the generous financial support of Pewsey Area Board and the Community Area Transport Group.”

He welcomed Coun Kunkler and Coun Robert Hall and invited them to cut a ribbon to declare the new path open.

Coun Tilbury thanked Mike Wilmott, head of Wiltshire Planning (east); Mark Stansby, senior traffic management engineer at Wiltshire Council highways; and PC Steve Colwill, from Wiltshire Police traffic management section, for their input and advice. He also thanked Sarah Dearden, a design engineer with the council’s highways, and the contractors Ringway Parkman.