| Topic: | Crossing outside the Belmont School | |
| Posted by: | Jenn Irvine | |
| Date/Time: | 03/09/14 11:43:00 |
| I honestly don't know what else to do apart from post this on a public forum. Please read the email below to our local councillors, Hounslow Highways and the Hounslow Council Traffic Department. PLEASE help by emailing the Turnham Green Councillors on behalf of our local children to beg them to fix the signs outside of the school so that a child or a parent is not struck down. If something isn't done to fix the signs and provide a decent crossing for pedestrians something terrible is going to happen. Their email addresses are: samantha.davies@hounslow.gov.uk, adrian.lee@hounslow.gov.uk, Peter.Thompson@hounslow.gov.uk Good morning again (!), Having first reported this in December 2014 I am shocked and extremely exasperated that the council have done nothing to date, nine months later, to repair the school signs immediately outside of the Belmont School on Belmont Road, W4 to ensure they flash during appropriate school run times. I am not aware of any other primary school in our neighbourhood that is located so near to a main road (Chiswick High Road) and immediately across from a major supermarket car park. There is NOTHING apart from these two small school signs to inform motorists that hundreds of young children are crossing Belmont Road from Monday to Friday. These signs have two lights beneath the word "SCHOOL" and, I assume, are meant to flash during school run hours. They have not worked since my son started Reception in September of 2014 and I only noticed that they are not functional after a very near miss where he narrowly avoided being hit by a car outside of the school gate last year. I reported this to the council and we had a site visit from Tony Robinson (cced) in the spring of this year and absolutely nothing has been done to fix them! It beggars belief. There is also no proper crossing that gives pedestrians the right of way outside of the school so the children and parents have to simply chance crossing Belmont and Dolman roads every morning, in the middle of commuter rush hour, and afternoon. I held on the telephone yesterday for over half an hour to then was only permitted to leave a voicemail for Hounslow Highways. No one has returned my call and the signs have not been fixed. As I type this, I have been holding for 20 minutes and have yet to speak to a human being. I will just keep trying, as and when I can, to get through to the council. I do not know what it is going to take for the council to repair the signs and put some basic safety measures into place - does a child need to be struck down for this to happen?! I have now approached a local journalist with the Hounslow Chronicle with my email correspondence and telephone record of contacting council officials and she is now in the process of speaking with Hounslow Highways to gather their side of the story before running a piece on the complete on what I hope will be the council's complete and total lack of care for our primary school children's safety. Kind regards, Jenn Irvine - on behalf of the parents and children of The Belmont School, W4 |