Cross About Crossing

Parents of children attending the two village schools on Woodways are getting rather cross about the road crossing — or rather, the lack of one!

For over two years local parents have been pushing to have a zebra crossing installed in Woodways, and last year parents and campaigners were delighted to hear that approval had been given for such a crossing.

But little seems to have happened since then, and the earliest that any kind of administrative progress might begin is September this year.

To demonstrate their frustration, Emma Lister and Angela Matthews organised another 'Big Walk' demonstration outside the Community Junior School on Thursday morning, 21st May.

Said Emma: "You can see how busy Woodways is at this time on weekdays, as children are trying to get to school. The vehicles are not just those carrying people who travel to work in Haddenham — a significant number are passing right through the village, using this minor road in order to avoid congestion on the A418. And the result is high traffic flows and a serious hazard for young children needing to cross the road."

According to Angela: "A Feasibility Study for the pedestrian crossing dated 10th April 2013 estimated that the costs would be £86,000 and a grant was authorised on this basis. It seems strange that councillors now seem to be querying the cost, when this figure has been well known for two years."

"We can all understand that Haddenham Parish Council wants to be sure that the cost won't exceed £86,000. But there are significant margins included in the estimate to provide for contingencies."

"The assumptions behind the estimates are also clearly defined in the report, including allowances for lighting and traffic management, so there shouldn't be any nasty surprises in the final costs."

Emma added: "The last we heard was that a project manager would be identified in September. Given that delay, it seems highly unlikely that any actual construction work will take place this year. And that's simply not good enough. Our children need a safer crossing now!"

"We are currently planning to hold more Big Walk events during 'Walk to School Month' in October. Let's hope that, by then, we have some definite news about the start date for the work and perhaps we won't need any more Big Walk events after all."