A mother-of-two from Deeping St James has won her fight for better road safety measures outside a village school.
Emily Elliott launched an online petition for a pedestrian crossing at Linchfield Community Primary School in Crowson Way before bringing her concerns to parish and district councillors last December.
Now county highways and road safety officers have responded by agreeing to recruit a traffic warden for the school and are now advertising the post.
Emily said: “I’m very happy with the outcome as we are getting a safe place to cross for the children and that is all that I really wanted.
“Linchfield is situated on a corner, making it extremely difficult to cross the road on the busy school runs.
“An advisory 20mph limit is already in place but this is regularly ignored by drivers, leaving children between the ages two and 11 to trying to cross this busy road safely to get both to and from school.
“Linchfield used to have a lollipop lady for many years but due to funding cuts, Lincolnshire County Council made the decision to remove her and we now have small children faced with a dangerous and extremely busy road to cross.”
Emily’s successful efforts were backed by Deeping St James Parish Council chairman coun Andrew Bowell who said: “Emily attended our council meeting in December and spoke to us about her campaign to try and tackle the problem of children crossing Crowson Way.
“It’s a busy road, with vehicles taking children to Linchfield and also picking them up.
“But added to this is traffic using the road as a thoroughfare and those using the retailers at Carmel Court which can make crossing the road difficult, especially at the start and end of the school day.
“Personally, I believe that a school crossing patrol will help to ensure that children can cross safely.”
Coun Phil Dilks, parish and South Kesteven District Council member for Deeping St James, said: “Linchfield is the largest primary school in the area – and set to grow even bigger with more and more homes planned for The Deepings.
“We must address current concerns and make sure children are able to get to and from school safely.
“Reinstating a lollipop person for an hour on school days would, in my view, be a cost-effective, more environmentally friendly solution, and probably the safer option.”
Deepings East county councillor Barry Dobson who said: “I think that a traffic warden is the right answer because it needs the presence of a person to stamp their authority on the traffic.”
John Siddle, of the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, said: “The school crossing patrol vacancy at Linchfield is currently being advertised and our hope is that a suitable person responds to that and we can fill the vacancy as soon as possible.”
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