[29
MAR 00] COVENTRY CITY COUNCIL NEWS
Safety Schemes Get Green Light
BY ANTONY HOPKER
C ampaigners
are celebrating after city councillors approved a series of measures
to make roads in Coventry safer.
They
gave the go-ahead to a package of changes to five areas to reduce
residents’ fear of dangerous roads near their homes.
But
members of the Environment and Transportation Policy Team warned that
the list of neighbourhoods needing action was growing rapidly and
other parts of the city would have to wait their turn.
Work
is now due to start in Jardine Crescent, Tile Hill; Cheveral Avenue,
Radford; Henley Road and Deedmore Road, Wood End; and Nuffield Road
and Mulberry Road, Bell Green at a cost of £85,000.
Another
£35,000 project in Prior Deram Walk, Canley is being held back until
September to in case the other projects do not go over their budget.
The
work will include traffic calming to slow cars down and pedestrian
crossings to allow people to get across the road.
Money
for the changes is coming from the Perceived Safety Scheme, which was
set up by the council two years ago.
The
aim was to allow safety measures to be introduced in areas that were
believed by residents to be dangerous despite having a low accident
rate.
Campaigners
lobbied for years for traffic calming measures to be introduced in
Earlsdon Avenue South in Earlsdon after a spate of near-misses.
Cllr
Lindsley Harvard (Labour, Earlsdon), who was involved in the
successful quest for action, said it was vital that people felt safe.
He
said:
“If
pensioners feel they have to walk a mile down a road before they can
cross it then it affects their quality of life. This work should not
depend on how many accidents there have been.”
Cllr
John Mason (Labour, Woodlands) said everyone living in the Jardine
Crescent area would be delighted that the work was to begin.
He
added:
“This
is going to be a real kick-start to a raft of environmental changes
in the area.”
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