Southend Council ‘stalling on shared zone crossing points’

6:00am Tuesday 19th June 2012 in Southend Photograph of the Author By Stephen Hackwell

Southend Council ‘stalling on shared zone crossing points’ Southend Council ‘stalling on shared zone crossing points’

COUNCIL chiefs have been accused of stalling over plans for safe crossing points for pedestrians in Southend’s seafront shared space zone.

In January, chiefs announced they would follow the recommendations of an independent review, which called for informal walkways to be installed across Marine Parade.

But, five months on no changes have been made and campaigners have accused the council of trying to wriggle out of its promise.

A spokesman for protest group Skipp, which staged several demonstrations in Marine Parade last year, said: “This situation is unacceptable. By not implementing the recommendations of the report, which the council commissioned and accepted, it continues to negligently risk the lives of innocent people.”

The zone, where pedestrians, drivers and cyclists mix freely, is part of the £7.6million City Beach revamp. Complaints emerged shortly after the zone was finished in March last year. The Echo launched a campaign last summer calling for change after two children were knocked down in Marine Parade within six weeks. In September, the council commissioned the review, which argued for areas of coloured paving that clearly marked spots where pedestrians could cross. It did not support calls for formal pelican or zebra crossings.

Council bosses agreed to implement the changes as soon as possible.

However, Andy Lewis, the council’s corporate director for enterprise, tourism and the environment, said the process was not as “straightforward” as it might seem.

He said: “Implementing the agreed recommendations at City Beach will require further construction work in a very busy area.

“This work is currently in hand and we are looking at the best time for these measures to be implemented.

“It is worth noting that as we continue to monitor the scheme, especially low traffic speeds, it continues to perform well.”

Comments(13)

Lefty Cyclist Type says...
7:02am Tue 19 Jun 12

The problem is not the lack of crossings, the problem is that it is NOT a 'shared' space. Drivers still think they have priority over everyone else. Until that changes no amount of crossings will make any difference.

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j-w says...
8:39am Tue 19 Jun 12

Are people being run down every day because of this, no they aren't, maybe everyone is staying on the town side of Marine Parade? No? oh so whats the problem? There have been a couple of incidents but a lot less than most busy roads I bet.

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bazaarhorse says...
10:28am Tue 19 Jun 12

j-w wrote:
Are people being run down every day because of this, no they aren't, maybe everyone is staying on the town side of Marine Parade? No? oh so whats the problem? There have been a couple of incidents but a lot less than most busy roads I bet.
I think the only accident was a council SPY car knocking a child over ? Its such a shame that part of the sea front has been altered so much, it used to have a buzz about the place, a lot of locals avoid it at all costs now.

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Max Impact says...
11:01am Tue 19 Jun 12

So skipp want the work done in high season when the seafront will be at it's busiest, what is the betting they would moan if it was done during the summer, they would rollout the "seafront works devastating trade" line and demand to know why the works were not done off season.....

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jolllyboy says...
11:02am Tue 19 Jun 12

With all the changes and the prospect of higher walls for flood defences no-one will want to go there anyway.
Put the crossing in now, an independent report has stated it is required. Be it on the council's head if there is another accident.

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PJR121 says...
12:09pm Tue 19 Jun 12

jolllyboy wrote:
With all the changes and the prospect of higher walls for flood defences no-one will want to go there anyway. Put the crossing in now, an independent report has stated it is required. Be it on the council's head if there is another accident.
When was the last accident?

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perini says...
12:09pm Tue 19 Jun 12

How much does it cost and how long does it take to paint some black and white lines on a road and install a set of lights? Not long!

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SARFENDMAN says...
1:21pm Tue 19 Jun 12

Confusion rules whether road user or pedestrian. Maybe it does work through default.

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maxell says...
1:52pm Tue 19 Jun 12

The last comment from the council says it all , the crossing is working well , I am sure that if they delay long enough there will be a case to argue that id does not need doing, I also agree with the comment about southend sea front having a buzz about it I worked in the kurssal and peter pans, when the mods and rockres the greasers, and hippies along with the teds, yes there was some trouble but what a sight, thousands of skin heads filling the kurssal, that was southend thats what made southend not the ponsey white pavement and silly metal structures that reach into the sky and silly bits of water jumping from holes in the ground which will probably also need moving when the sea wall height is increased, remember cruse nights, they may not have been welcome by the council but hundreds of people would travel just to watch the cars doing the two roundabout circuit, ask any trader I am sure that they would welcome back that amount of trade the way the council has designed the layout now has killed the sea front in my opinion southend no longer does offers anything to attract visitors, adventure island maybe a pull to one small aera of the sea front but that was shutting last year an hour early due to the lack of visitors, bring back the old southend , reserrect the councilors of the time who desiged the front as it worked, rip all the new stuff out bring back the old southend along with its charictor. and the sea front will soon fill up once more, why is this council so obstinant, oh and by the way talking about silly bits I forgot to mention the palm trees that just look like they grow from the ground but are really in pots, I woundr why they are not growing??

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Jesslca says...
2:16pm Tue 19 Jun 12

the average speed cameras dont even work.. hardly monitering peoples speed are they

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saarfender says...
4:00pm Tue 19 Jun 12

bazaarhorse wrote:
j-w wrote:
Are people being run down every day because of this, no they aren't, maybe everyone is staying on the town side of Marine Parade? No? oh so whats the problem? There have been a couple of incidents but a lot less than most busy roads I bet.
I think the only accident was a council SPY car knocking a child over ? Its such a shame that part of the sea front has been altered so much, it used to have a buzz about the place, a lot of locals avoid it at all costs now.
I'd agree. I used to cycle to work along the seafront every day - but can't remember the last time I did that... Southend council have ruined the area with all the changes.

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southendshrimper says...
6:57pm Tue 19 Jun 12

bazaarhorse wrote:
j-w wrote:
Are people being run down every day because of this, no they aren't, maybe everyone is staying on the town side of Marine Parade? No? oh so whats the problem? There have been a couple of incidents but a lot less than most busy roads I bet.
I think the only accident was a council SPY car knocking a child over ? Its such a shame that part of the sea front has been altered so much, it used to have a buzz about the place, a lot of locals avoid it at all costs now.
The so called 'spy' car or Parking Enforcement Vehicle did hit a child, but the child run out from between two parked vans, on the lowered road part of the share space.

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Mslightfoot says...
12:20pm Wed 20 Jun 12

There will always be accidents, and there will always be a child who runs out; fortunately for everyone, I believe that both children, whilst hurt, were not killed. I think that the seafront looks fantastic and I also think that, given time, people will get used to its mixed use. I think the poster who said that cars ignore everyone is quite wrong, I haven't seen any driver speeding along the 20mph zone, in fact, going slower is probably what they've been doing, it certainly is what I do and I use that stretch all the time. If people think that cars are a problem at the moment along the seafront, if the Council are allowed to build a seven storey business/conference centre embedded in to the cliffs with two parking levels, what does everyone think will happen to the traffic then? I'm not sure there's a lot of joined up thinking in the Council offices.

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