By Sue Read

DESPITE lots of thought and introduction of ways to try to make the journey to and from school safer for children at Landscore, big problems still exist.

At Tuesday’s meeting of Crediton Town Council’s policy and forward planning committee, Landscore Primary School headteacher, Gary Read, shared the findings of last month’s school travel survey.

Traffic around the school has increased, especially at school times, but the school did not seem to be able to get to grips with it. He said the school felt it had done everything it could.

Pupil numbers had gone from 276 to 335, plans to extend would increase this to 420 pupils.

Previous Travel Plans had resulted in improving the safety of the way from Queen Elizabeth Drive by clearing the pavement on Western Road and widening the junction at Alexandra Road.

Putting in 20mph signs and flashing lights on Threshers; having a dropped and extended kerb at the school to create a crossing point; set up walking buses and crossing patrol although neither are now in operation.

Mr Read would like to look again at how the school could minimise the problem. He had talked to parents to try to get a picture of how children get to school and found that 23 per cent of those who live 1000 metres (0.6 mile) from the school use a car with the total living within 7000 metres (4.3 miles) or more of the school who use a car being 56 per cent, 108 out of the 194 families who completed the survey.

Of those 194 families, 44 per cent or 86 walked, cycled or scooted to school, some from Barnfield and Blagdon. Of the total, 60 families, about a quarter of those on the school roll, responded to questions about how the dangerous congestion at the school might be improved.

Among the various ideas put forward the most approval (11 both cases) went to increasing no parking areas outside the school with a drop off zone instead and to creating a formal Crediton cycle way or path all the way to the school, pot hole free. These were answers the school could do little about.

It was agreed that the best solution would be a culture change. Mr Read said thoughtless drivers still parked on the road junctions by the school, across people’s drive ways or even across the entrance to the school.

He asked if the town council could help the school to find a safe way to get across the town? The ways being used now were “not the best.”

Cllr Frank Letch said that some time ago when he had spent an hour in the morning and afternoon at the school the number of parents dropping children off by car was “unbelievable”.

Mr Read commented that unless there was a properly funded scheme, he did not think the school could improve things by talking with parents.

Cllr Letch said Haywards Primary School was fortunate in being able to use the church car park for dropping off and collecting children. Landscore had nothing like that.

Mr Read replied that Landscore had tried using QE Drive and Greenway as gathering points, but both meant the services of a voluntary crossing person which could not be sustained.

Committee chairman, Cllr Liz Brookes-Hocking said the town council had already identified Tinpot Lane, which exits on Greenway near Early Birds, to be upgraded as part of a walking route.

It was also looking at traffic movements around the town. It was felt that parents needed to think about where they parked and whether they needed to take the car to the school with one commenting that there was a problem with more children becoming obese because they did not take enough exercise.

Councillors felt it would be interesting to find out how many parents were working, perhaps dropping children off on the way to work. The committee would be interested to work with the school in sharing information to begin looking at this as part of its Neighbourhood Plan.

WELCOME NEWS

Councillors were delighted to hear that Devon County Council had scrapped its plan to not support school crossing patrols any more.

They heard that there had been strong representation from across the county to keep the lollipop people.

Cllr Brookes-Hocking commented that safe access for many schools depended on the school crossing patrol.

With Mid Devon District Council’s offices at Crediton closing at the end of this month, councillors felt that people needed to know how they were going to be able to pay bills such as at the Post Office.

Cllr Letch hoped to have information sheets to hand out at Saturday’s Farmers’ Market on the town square.

Looking at the town CCTV system and future management, it was felt this was more of a Chamber of Commerce issue than for the town council.

NEEDS NEW SCHOOL

Having an update on the progress of its Neighbourhood Plan, committee members agreed the implications from the Pedlarspool development needed to be reconsidered, such as provision of a new school and why the developers seem to think this was not needed.

It was also said that the whole site had been under water at least once. Councillors also wondered why the public had not been involved until the end of last month when the plan was coming out at the end of March.

It was said the district council should have made it clear to the developer’s agent that the public needed to be involved much earlier.

Cllr Brookes-Hocking added that the site was between two historic parks on a greenfield site. “We need to think about traffic,” she said.

It was hoped the agent would be able to speak at the April 5 meeting.