CAMPAIGNING residents have signed a petition to stop their Southend streets being used as a rat run.

More than 100 residents have signed the petition which they hope will stop speeding cars zooming around their streets.

The petition calls for motorists coming from Carnarvon Road, into Victoria Avenue, to be able to turn both ways, instead of the current enforced left turn.

James Drury, of Tickfield Avenue, who started the petition, hopes the change will ease the number of motorists using Tunbridge Road, Tickfield Avenue and Penhurst Avenue as a cut through to East Street and then Victoria Avenue.

Mr Drury, who has a young daughter, said: “The roads are now bombarded with thousands of unwanted vehicles every day.

“In fact it is rare to see a car travel within the 20mph speed limit and due to the high number of children living in this area, and the on street parking which isn’t controlled, it is surelyamatter of time before a child is killed on what has now become a dangerous road.”

Mr Drury said his suggestion would also ease strain on the East Street junction as those who use the rat run then want to turn right up Victoria Avenue, causing congestion at the junction.

Coral Wall, 77, of Tickfield Avenue, supports Mr Drury’s campaign and has been concerned for her own safety on the road.

She said: “Now I have not got young children, so it is not quite so bad, but as then as I get older I am not as agile and cars do come whizzing round those corners.

“James has worked it all out and I back the petition completely.”

Zulfiqar Ali, the council’s group manager of traffic management and highway network, said Mr Drury’s petition would be considered.

He said: “We note the residents’ concerns and the council would like to do all it can to assist in improving public safety.

“All petitions once received are investigated by the council and are reported to the traffic and parking cabinet committee for consideration, where residents’ concerns are discussed and decisions taken in terms of what can be done to alleviate these.”

So who might benefit?

  • Southend Crown and Magistrates’ Courts
  • Prisoner escort service
  • Essex Police
  • Civic Centre
  • Southend Museum
  • Beacroft Art Gallery
  • Residents of Crowborough Road
  • Users of two multi-storey and two single level car parks
  • Patients at the Carnarvon Road doctors’ surgery
  • All 200 future residents of the former South East Essex College building, which is being turned into residential dwellings.

Kitten 'was a victim of a speeding driver'

EMERGENCY vehicles are a regular sight along Tunbridge Road as they seek a quick route north on Victoria Avenue.

One resident, Sam Ford, suspects a speeding police van was to blame for the death of her family’s kitten in January.

She said: “The kitten went out and we couldn’t get it back in one evening.

“We heard a thump later on, saw a police van stopped in the road and the driver got out and was looking for something.

“We kept looking for the cat for the next couple of days then saw a notice on a lamppost saying it had been hit and taken to a vet, so we called them and they said they sadly couldn’t do anything for it.

“It’s not the first time cats have been killed up this road either, it is just so dangerous.

“The junction with Tickfield Avenue is a blind spot as well, you can’t see if anyone is crossing and they speed round.

“One of the houses in Tickfield doesn’t have a front garden wall anymore because people were going too fast, went straight on and kept going into it.

“I’m all for the petition.”