No joy for Grange Park road safety campaigners at Swindon Borough Council

At Thursday night’s Full Council meeting, the petitioners from Grange Park in West Swindon who are calling on the Council to improve the safety of the Hay Lane crossing by Lydiard Park made their case to the Council, only to have the issue kicked into the long grass by the Tory administration.

Mrs Grother, whose son Dylan was nearly killed on the crossing 3 years ago, gave a moving speech of what happened when he was hit by a car who couldn’t see there was a crossing. She was backed up by another local resident, Rodney Birks, who debunked claims that traffic on Hay Lane is within normal speed ranges. He was clear that an average of 29 miles per hour will see significant numbers above 30 mph, which is the speed limit on Hay Lane. 

Councillors Steph Exell and Jim Robbins from the Labour Group made a strong case for the Cabinet’s consideration of the petition, which called for 3 safety measures: a 20mph speed limit, a speed bump, and some signage to alert drivers to the crossing which is very hard to see. This was voted down by all Conservative councillors, including the ward councillors for Lydiard and Freshbrook, in favour of a simple briefing note to cover road safety across the Borough.

Councillor Exell, who is also a West Swindon Parish Councillor and has been actively supporting the Hay Lane campaign, asked “what criteria do the Council need” to look specifically at the safety issue on Hay Lane and to take decisive action before someone is killed there.

Sarah Church, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate, has been supporting the Grothers ever since they contacted her in early 2019 to get something done, “Clarisse Grother emailed me earlier this year because she had had no help from her MP or her ward councillors to make a difference to the dangers of the crossing on Hay Lane. I put her in touch with Councillor Trish Philpot and together we have helped the Grother family launch this petition. I’m appalled that the Borough Council want to push such an obvious road safety concern into the long grass. If another child is injured or dies, they will regret their failure to act.”

Councillor Philpot said, “I am extremely disappointed that SBC have decided to kick the issue into the long grass. Myself, Mr and Mrs Grother, and their son Dylan, and many of the local residents, are quite clear that lives are at risk on Hay Lane. I am not clear as to why SBC have made this extraordinary decision.”