Council pledges action on 'dangerous' junction

Councillor Amjid Wazir, campaigner Craig Royce and Labour MP Allison Gardner previously met to discuss the issue

A council has pledged to make safety improvements at a junction where a man was killed last year.

Robert Bown, 33, died after he was hit by a car near the junction of Parkhall Road, Caverswall Road and Weston Road in Weston Coyney on 16 December.

His friend Craig Royce has since been campaigning for safety measures to be installed at the junction, with a petition being signed by 1,185 people.

Councillor Finlay Gordon-McCusker, Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s cabinet member for transport, said the issue was an “absolute priority” for him.

Mr Royce presented the petition to the authority during a meeting on Thursday where he said action had to be taken to prevent further tragedies.

“Rob was a pedestrian, walking home. He was only yards away from home, on a walk he has been doing for the last 10 years,” he said.

“In Rob’s memory, I want to make sure the risk of this ever happening again is dramatically reduced.”

He said it was currently “very dangerous” for pedestrians to cross the junction, adding that there had been other near misses.

Robert Bown died after he was hit by a car on 16 December

Mr Gordon-McCusker thanked Mr Royce for his efforts and said that highways officers were working “at pace” to draw up a road safety scheme for the junction.

He agreed that safety improvements were needed and said he had seen how dangerous the junction was for pedestrians.

“It was immediately obvious to me, as it would be to anyone who visits that area, that urgent intervention is needed,” he added.

“It is an absolute priority for me and our highways team to deliver a road safety scheme in that area because it’s absolutely unquestionable that it is necessary.”

Highways officers have been carrying out traffic surveys at the junction and modelling a potential four-way push button pedestrian crossing, although it is not yet known when such a scheme would go ahead.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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