Street overhaul puts children at risk - residents

The overhaul will see bus stops relocated and reduced in number

Residents have blasted plans to revamp a busy street and warned that the proposed changes would worsen speeding and could put children at risk while waiting to catch school buses.

Lancashire County Council (LCC) is poised to start work on a series of changes to Leyland Road in Penwortham, South Ribble.

But locals said they would be left unable to park outside their homes as a result of the redesign.

The authority said the measures would prevent “inappropriate and obstructive parking” and therefore improve highway safety for both motorists and pedestrians.

The overhaul will see bus stops relocated and reduced in number, while double yellow lines will be introduced on the stretch of the route between The Cawsey roundabout and the former Sumpter Horse pub, near Castle Fold.

The four bus boarding points currently in operation will be cut to two – one in each direction – and moved to a central location. 

Parking will be prohibited at any time southbound, with the same restriction also applying along much of the northbound side of the road.

'Unsafe parking'

The changes were given the go-ahead by cabinet members in September following a public consultation in which all 18 respondents objected – many of whom cited the loss of parking as the main issue.

Dawn, who did not want to giver her full name, said: “I know of five serious accidents down here in the past 12 years and they have all been due to speeding and drunk drivers – nothing to do with people parking outside their house."

She said moving one bus stop to where the pavement was narrow was dangerous when there were a lot of children waiting for the school bus.

“The two new stops are also practically opposite each other, so if you’ve got two buses stopped the entire road’s going to get blocked, including to emergency vehicles,” she added.

LCC said: “The main focus of these changes is to address issues with unsafe parking which often blocks the narrow pavements in this area and obstructs the flow of traffic, which particularly impacts bus services and affects people’s journeys at peak times.

“All the stops are considered to have enough space to cater for a number of people to wait."