henleaze&westburyvoice
8
December, 2016
n NEWS
Dodging the traffic to cross Canford Lane WESTBURY-ON-TRYM residents are demanding that a crossing is installed on Canford Lane before a serious accident occurs. This busy spot on the A4162, between the Crematorium, Canford Park and Sandyleaze has become a traffic hotspot in recent years and local people say that there is no safe way to cross from one side of the road to the other. Jackie Collins, from Canford Lane, explained: “It’s just trying to cross the road - that’s the difficulty - it took my husband 12 minutes one time.” Resident Nicola Hawkes added: “It’s definitely the volume of traffic out there. I don’t think if you reduced the speed to 20 it would make any difference purely because there is so much traffic coming through there. “”If you have someone elderly with you who’s trying to cross the road it takes a while as you can’t rush.” It’s a problem for dog walkers too, making their way to and fro
the park opposite, as Michelle Healy explained: “Try having an old dog and crossing the road - I have to stop the traffic!”
ADVENT CAROL SERVICE,
Sunday 27th November, 6.30pm
CHRISTINGLE SERVICE
Sunday 11th December, 4pm A Service of Light for children in support of The Children’s Society
NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS by Candlelight Sunday 18th December, 6.30pm
CAROLS AROUND THE CRIB Christmas Eve, 4pm for children and their families
11.00pm - Christmas Eve Midnight Mass with incense
Christmas Day, 10am All-age service
Support for the group has come from Henleaze and Westbury councillor, Clare Campion-Smith. “I think it’s a combination of things - the volume of traffic and the speed of traffic - drivers do come round at quite a lick at times. Also, there are plenty of places where the visibility isn’t all that good as it’s quite a bendy road so you don’t have enough warning at the Sandyleaze end,”“ said Clare. As a parent of two young children, mum Jess Wheeler has to be particularly vigilant when crossing the road with a buggy. Jess said: “It’s quite a wide road and there’s not often a big enough gap on both sides to travel across. There’s always a step on the other side of the road, and I have to take my hands off my son, Alex, to use both hands to push the buggy up off the road onto the path. “I don’t like doing this as there’s always some car coming. We often stand for many minutes on the opposite side and make up stories while we wait as we have that much time.” Jackie added: “People park opposite the Crematorium and have to cross the road to get there. Families use the park, people use it for tennis and football and use the footpath from Henbury golf course as a route to walk here. “There is so much traffic and
so little parking that I am forced to walk into the village from here but the walk is made more dangerous due of the traffic. And it’s impossible to walk without crossing the road because there’s no path.” Tales exist of people missing the bus that they wanted to catch as they couldn’t get across the road in time - which makes the need for a crossing even more important as people feel that they have no choice but to take risks. Graham Donald lives nearby and often uses this route. He said: “That’s happened to me as well. I take risks and it can be quite alarming and dangerous. As a community it is our duty to provide somewhere safe to cross the road.” Graham wrote to everyone who lives on Canford Lane and the surrounding roads some months ago to gauge the level of the problem and received 29 responses, showing that this was a clear issue that needs sorting out and should be considered by the Henleaze, Stoke Bishop and Westbury-on-Trym Neighbourhood Partnership. Cllr Clare Campion-Smith added: “The budget situation is very difficult and it does take time to get these things happening as the NP has only one roads project a year. There is going to be no magic wand but that doesn’t stop you trying to do things. Although the financial situation isn’t very good, we have to be ready for any pots of money coming in. “It’s important to tie it into some of the other aspirations for the city such as people becoming fitter, and using sustainable transport such as walking and cycling rather than using cars.” Revisiting the Friends of Canford Park Management Plan may be a possible route forward too because if the facilities at the park and the Westbury Library increase then more people will want to use them and it is important that they can get there safely. “It was bad three years ago but it’s getting worse and that’s what’s made us think that we must try and do something about this. People are keen to get going with a petition and to add their signatures,” said Nicola.
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