Pedestrian refuge makes my driveway a nightmare
SCHOOL NEIGHBOURS FACE MANOEUVRE HELL ON ROAD
A COUPLE have blamed Kirklees Council for making them perform a tricky driving manoeuvre to get in and out of their driveway.
Adrian and Anne Denby, of Honley, have complained to the council about the location of a pedestrian refuge which was installed during the summer to make it safer and easier to cross busy Station Road, near Honley High School.
Mr Denby described the situation as a “nightmare” and “dangerous” – and his wife, Anne, recently bumped into the gatepost attempting to reverse into the driveway. He said: “We live opposite Honley High School and Kirklees have imposed a traffic scheme on the road which includes a pedestrian refuge to the left side of our drive.
“The positioning of this refuge means I cannot turn left from my drive without shunting backwards and forwards.
“It makes reversing difficult and dangerous and, when returning from the right, we have to put the car at right angles across two lanes of traffic before we reverse into our drive.
“We have written to them objecting from first hearing about it but they don’t care and seem to think what they have done to us is acceptable.”
Mr Denby has asked Kirklees to consider re-siting the pedestrian refuge: “I asked them to put it somewhere else. They said it would cause problems for residents – but that’s our argument; it’s causing problems for us.”
Mr Denby says he objected to the plans before and after the pedestrian refuge was built.
“I objected, as there was no evidence that there has been an accident or even a reported close shave. I didn’t know what a pedestrian refuge was, but I objected to the entire scheme.”
After the refuge was installed,
Mr Denby complained that its location was potentially hazardous.
“I assumed someone (at Kirklees) would have more brains than to stick it there. It’s dangerous and it’s a nightmare for us.”
He added: “Kirklees say they offered to widen our drive, but it’s not my wall, it’s the neighbour’s wall. We have spent a lot of money on our garden and it seems very unfair.”
In correspondence, Kirklees offered to resolve the dispute with a number of suggestions.
In an email to the couple in October, a senior council official said: “To try and resolve your concerns, we offered to widen the driveway and access by taking down some of the wall and laying down a concrete base, to make the turn out of their drive, easier.
“After watching Mr Denby make the manoeuvre, we suggested narrowing the island, which you felt was unacceptable, and then suggested reducing the length of the preformed refuge by over half a metre, away from the property, to allow more space to exit when turning left.
“There is no issue turning right. Reducing the length also made turning right into the property easier as well. This is as short as the refuge can be without making it useless, as it needs to accommodate several students crossing the road at the same time.
“It is also as close as we can get it to the school exit, and its position maintains similar spacings between the traffic calming features that we were putting in.”
A council spokesperson told the Examiner: “We are aware of Mr Denby’s concerns, which he raised after the consultation period and during the installation of a pedestrian island last year. This facility makes it safer for children crossing Station Rd on their way to and from school, and is part of a larger traffic calming scheme. It was developed with the school, to reduce the risk to pedestrians in this area.
“We have listened to Mr Denby’s concerns and made some minor adjustments to the island to help, but our priority is the safety of the children and other pedestrians. The island is in the most logical place for use by children leaving the school and moving it would just discourage them from using it, leaving them at greater risk when crossing.”