COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Eastern Green is set for a new pedestrian crossing after a two-year campaign, opposition councillors say



Woodlands ward Conservative councillors have claimed Hockley Lane is one of the most dangerous roads in Coventry.

They say the road has a history of accidents and its ‘unique’ position close to two schools makes the installation of a new crossing particularly urgent.

But Labour cabinet member for city services, Jayne Innes, has slammed these claims as ‘lies’ in a fiery Twitter debate.

She hit back at Conservatives, claiming the road does not experience an alarming number of accidents.

She claims she was forced to consider the traffic calming measures due to a nearby school scrapping the road’s crossing patrol – which she blamed on Conservative government cuts.

The council will be consulting residents about the potential installation of the new puffin crossing, she says.

This is a crossing in which traffic lights only go green when no more pedestrians are detected on the crossing by infrared detectors and mats.

The consultation process is due to start on September 13 and last until October 4.

The council says the new crossing would be on Hockley Lane near to its junction with Church Lane and Upper Eastern Green Lane.

If there are no objections, work is set to begin next month, the council says.

Fundraiser's offer for road safety measure turned down on “horrendous” road



Further measures are needed to tackle “horrendous speeding” on a Coventry road, but a resident’s offer to raise £5,000 for them has been refused.

The offer to fundraise for a new vehicle activated sign (VAS) on Eastern Green Lane was made at a meeting on Monday, July 29, but a council officer rejected it as she was unsure on whether the authority could accept the gesture.

A spokesman for Coventry council after the meeting said the authority was still “looking into the legality” of accepting the funding.

The safety bid was made by resident David Adey who said existing speeding measures haven’t solved the problem.

But the road falls below the council’s criteria of funding measures where there have been six personal injury collisions in three years.

Responding to calls for a VAS, head of traffic management Karen Seager said there are over 50 sites with six personal injury collisions.

“We have to deal with worst first,” she added.

“The budgets we have are quite limited and we do the best with the money we have got.”

The authority purchased 10 VAS last year, costing £5,000 each, she said – an amount Mr Adey offered to fundraise for to enable the purchase of another.

When asked if this was possible, Ms Seagar said “no” as she needed to check with the council’s legal team on what the policy is.

She added: “What used to happen is in areas where people would say ‘I’ll pay for it’ that means if you are in an area where you have got loads of money you will get more things than if you were in an area that hasn’t.”

Eastern Green Lane already has a 20mph zone outside Park Hill Primary School along with speed cushions, while ‘SLOW’ road markings are placed on Upper Eastern Green Lane along with central hatching.

But hatching has led to more pavement parking, Mr Adey said.

“The most horrendous speeding I have seen is at night and you can’t see anyone who steps out between lots of parked cars,” he added.

Chair, Cllr Pat Hetherton admitted speeding on the road is “frightening”, but said a pedestrian refuge would be preferred over VAS, although there is no funding for it.

She added: “I know you want something immediately but we will keep to the priorities and be consistent.”

A council spokesman said after the meeting: “Following the generous offer of one of our citizens to provide some funding to support the implementation of a vehicle activation signage within the city we are looking into the legality of the council accepting this funding.

“However in the interim we have asked him to meet with us to explore his kind proposal further.”