Petition for bollards outside school rejected

There was a petition to install crash bollards outside Lower Cobham Free School

A petition to install crash bollards outside a primary school has been rejected by a council despite concerns from parents.

The call for the safety measure at Cobham Free School in Portsmouth Road, around its playground and pedestrian areas, was presented to Surrey County Council (SCC) by parent Teresa Preston.

"I'm always afraid that something could happen because it's a very open area," she said.

But SCC said if they gave one school crash bollards, they would have to install them at every school.

Ms Preston said she was concerned about the lack of protection around the site.

"The playground is right next to the road, separated only by a wooden fence," she said.

Ms Preston told councillors she feared a repeat of the 2023 Wimbledon school tragedy, where two children were killed after a car crashed through a wooden fence and into a playground, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

In her submission, Ms Preston argued the site, which was formerly a police station, was not designed for young pupils and lacked protective barriers suitable for its location on the busy A307 Portsmouth Road.

SCC's cabinet member for highways Matt Furniss said such systems were typically reserved for high-speed roads or sites with a clear history of serious collisions.

A highways officer said at the meeting where the petition was raised: "Unfortunately we do have an awful lot of schools in the county that would want a similar system installed outside schools."

The officer said funding had to be focussed on reducing collisions where they were most frequent, which was on the public highway.

Officers pointed to recent works outside the school, including widening pavements and crossings to give parents and pupils more space away from traffic.

It also highlighted its Road Safety Outside Schools policy, which prioritised measures based on collision data and risk assessments conducted with Surrey Police.

Furniss said road safety outside schools remained a "priority area" for investment.