Traffic measures near school approved (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Councillors back highways scheme despite residents' objections

5:10pm Wednesday 13th March 2013 in News By Catherine Priestley, Chief Reporter (Sedgefield)

RESIDENTS have lost their fight against the introduction of traffic and parking measures around a secondary school.

Durham County Council will make a series of changes to roads near Whitworth Park School and Sixth Form College, in Spennymoor, in an effort to improve safety and ease congestion.

It will create a two-lane approach to the Whitworth Road traffic signals, add a pedestrian phase to the lights on all four legs of the crossroads and bring in various waiting restrictions.

This will include double yellow lines, or no waiting at any time, on Clyde Terrace.

The council devised the traffic management plan for the school when its ongoing redevelopment, which will see pupil numbers increase from 900 to 1,350, received planning permission.

In January members deferred a decision on the measures so officers could explore other options and for a site visit before a special highways committee meeting held in Spennymoor today. (Wednesday, March 13)

They considered two other options- to only impose waiting restrictions at peak times so residents could park outside their homes except for at the start and end of the school day- and to only introduce the signal control for pedestrians on three sides and not Clyde Terrace.

But officers told members that a safety audit showed the original proposal was the only viable and safest option.

Residents argued they would be penalised 24 hours a day to accommodate two brief busy periods, that it will increase already difficult parking problems, that two lanes could increase accidents as vehicles get too close when turning on a tight junction and that other methods could improve safety.

Members voted four to three in favour of the proposal.