Council pushes forward with zebra crossing redesign

In spite of 195 objections to its proposal, County Hall has now started work which will see the zebra crossing’s stripes more than doubled in length

Highways officials are pressing ahead with plans to redesign a zebra crossing which almost 200 locals have demanded is replaced with pedestrian traffic lights.

Lancashire County Council carried out a public consultation into its plans for the crossing point, close to Cardinal Newman College, on Manchester Road in Preston.

It follows two collisions in the past five years in which cyclists were injured on the crossing – including then 10-year-old Talha Hussian, who was thrown into a nearby sideroad after his bike was hit by a van last summer.

The local authority has rejected calls to install signals, after concluding they would make the spot more dangerous.

There have been growing calls for changes to the crossing, because of problems residents claimed were being caused by college students forming a constant stream across the road at peak times.

In spite of 195 objections to its proposal, County Hall has now started work which will see the zebra crossing’s stripes more than doubled in length to create a wider area that more pedestrians can use at the same time.

It will also be moved 3m (10ft) away from a side road junction.

Calls for investigation

In a report outlining the reasons for the decision, highways officials state that a "toucan" or "puffin" crossing, with traffic lights, would "not be suitable" for the location because there would be "insufficient" space on the pavement for the number of students waiting for the green man signal to appear at the end of the morning and afternoon classes at the college.

It would force those that wished to walk northwards along Manchester Road into the carriageway, where the view for both pedestrians and southbound traffic was obstructed by parked vehicles, it added.

However, Preston City division county councillor Yousuf Motala – who has previously likened Cardinal Newman students to "lemmings" because of the way he said they crossed the road – has called for an investigation into "the decision-making process" on highways issues at County Hall.

In a letter to the authority’s chief executive, Angie Ridgwell, the politician questioned the point of public consultations, when councillors' and residents' opinions were "completely ignor[ed]", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"It seems to us that LCC feel that Cardinal Newman College and their students are more important than local people who have to put up or shut up [over] decisions being taken on their behalf by individuals who don't have to live with the consequences of their actions," wrote Mr Motala, who last year organised a 200-signature petition calling for pedestrian lights on Manchester Road.

County councillor Rupert Swarbrick, cabinet member for highways and transport, said the county council leader Phillippa Williamson gave the green light to the plans as an urgent decision, taken on behalf of the rest of the cabinet, so that work could be completed before the start of the new academic year in September.