Families are elated that a key safety measure for a busy school route where a pedestrian has previously been injured has been recommended for approval by highways management.

Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for highway management Andrew Gant has been recommended to approve a new zebra crossing at Northcourt Road, in Abingdon.

A formal discussion and decision will take place in a county council meeting this Thursday, September 7.

A county council spokesperson said there was a collision at the site in 2018 where a pedestrian was injured. 

Crashmap.co.uk shows there has also been a couple of incidents of 'slight' severity in the area, as well as one serious incident.

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Councillors hope the crossing will make it safer for children and young people to walk and cycle to Dunmore, Fitzharry’s and John Mason Schools, as well as Abingdon College.

Nathan Ley, county councillor for Abingdon North, said: “"I'm delighted that this crossing should finally be approved this week and that we have the funding to implement it.

"I'm also really pleased with how many people joined in with the consultation this year and submitted their comments, with 87 per cent being in favour.

"The crossing should have an immediate impact for people of all ages including older people, but particularly children and parents walking and cycling to the schools and college in the vicinity.

"It will dovetail nicely with the forthcoming 20 mph limit being implemented for Northcourt Road." 

A consultation took place in 2020 on the resurfacing of Northcourt Road, during which people in the area asked for further improvements for cyclists and school children.

However, at the time the road was resurfaced these problems were not addressed.

Many Abingdon councillors saw this as a missed opportunity and have since been calling for a controlled pedestrian crossing outside Dunmore Primary School and a 20mph limit.

Helen Pighills, district councillor for Abingdon Abbey Northcourt, said: “This has been needed ever since the lollipop ladies were retired when my son was at Dunmore, and he’s now 30.”

Members of the public were pleased the project had been recommended for approval, and took to social media to show their views, some argued more is needed.

Abingdon householder James Davis said: “This is good news. I used to live just around the corner from there and crossing the road was, and still is very tricky at time.”

A second Abingdon householder, Simon Adams, said: “It is very welcome and a step in the right direction, but it really is a sticking plaster.

“What is needed is to drastically reduce traffic on Northcourt Road. Most of it isn’t local people but rat running between Oxford Road and Wootton Road.

“If a barrier were to be put just east of Brookside then local people would access the area from either Oxford Road or Wootton Road, depending in where they live, and others would use the ring road or not use their car at all.

“This would result in a safe route to school and college for hundreds of children.”

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1