Busy Sheffield suburb needs more pedestrian crossings, says councillor

Residents across Sheffield continually campaign for road safety measures – but have you ever wondered why one neighbourhood gets them and another does not?

Sheffield Council only has a small pot of money and often says there needs to be an accident before a road can be considered for traffic calming.

The problem was highlighted by Coun Mohammed Mahroof who says residents want safe crossing points in Crosspool.

There is a constant stream of traffic on Manchester Road, some difficult junctions plus lots of young children at Lydgate Juniors, Lydgate Infants and Ryegate Children’s Centre.

He said: “There has been a lot of concern around Crosspool regarding safe crossing points and traffic in general.

“The areas of particular concern are Manchester Road outside Tesco and Lydgate Lane and Cross Lane to name a few.

“I want officers to accompany me on a walk around these particular locations and to allocate a budget to address this issue of public safety.

“Can you assure me and residents that this matter will be addressed immediately and not give the standard answer of there are a lot of such requests and the budget does not allow us to address the matter?”

Coun Douglas Johnson, Cabinet member for transport, said: “There are a lot of such requests and the budget does not allow us to address all of them.”

He added that there were existing pedestrian crossings along Manchester Road and Fulwood Road on the routes to schools in the area, although these may not provide the most direct route for all students and residents.

Coun Johnson said: “I’m sure you will appreciate the council receives many requests for road safety measures and crossings from residents.

“Ideally, we would like to be able to respond to most of them. However, the budget for highway improvements is extremely limited which means that only a small number of schemes can be built each year.

“The limitations on our resources mean that we have to assess and prioritise locations for measures according to certain criteria, which includes for example how difficult the road is to cross, traffic speeds, and how many pedestrians use the route.

“One of the most important of these relates to the prevention of accidents, particularly those recorded as serious or fatal.

“Although we cannot know where the next accident may occur, it is more likely to happen at a location having a history of previous accidents than one with few or none.

“In this way we can focus on locations where measures are most urgently needed.

“The criteria we use to assess crossing requests include the pedestrian accident history; the degree of fear and intimidation, as well as how much any improvement would assist access to any local amenities or centres.”

Coun Douglas said the council followed Department for Transport guidance and officers assessed new requests on a quarterly basis.

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