Removing our street’s turning circle will lead to traffic hell (From Echo)

Removing our street’s turning circle will lead to traffic hell

4:00pm Tuesday 24th April 2012 in Castle Point By Jacqueline McMillan

MOTORISTS are fuming after Essex County Council spent nearly £18,000 of taxpayers’ cash to ease congestion near a school – and then paved back over it.

Drivers trying to get to the Cornelius Vermuyden School, in Dinant Avenue, Canvey, have been left with no way of turning round after the council removed a turning circle from the dead-end street last week.

The council created the turning bay by widening a section of the road five years ago, after residents complained about being unable to access their homes before and during school hours.

Michael Keeley, 45, of Dinant Avenue, Canvey, said: “It’s causing major issues for people living down this road, as well as Church Parade and Central Avenue.

“It just becomes like one big car park – you couldn’t get out or move if you wanted to. Not to mention it is becoming so dangerous where everyone is mounting the kerb and trying to get out. You have to accept some degree of traffic living near a school, but to install a solution which worked very well only to take it out again is ludicrous.”

The school has recently undergone a major transformation with the creation of a new £45million building.

The new facilities include a 600sqm sports hall, five recording studios, a school radio station and “immersive” room with touch-sensitive walls.

Work to tear down the old site, located next to the new building, is expected to finish by the end of this month.

County councillor Ray Howard, who is also a borough and town councillor, said: “I’m absolutely disgusted it has been removed.

“You work your socks off trying to get funding for something like this, only to have it removed after such a short time.

“It is a wonderful school, but residents are having a hell of job down there.

“The road is so narrow and now people have nowhere to turn around. I have had residents ringing me up who were horrified to know it has been removed without any notice.

“When you are going to dig up something which serves a very useful purpose to the community it should be subject to consultation.”

A county council spokesman said: “The turning area was removed to improve pedestrian links to the school and to promote sustainable transport as outlined in the planning proposal. There are no plans to reinstall it.”