Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘Danger junction needs urgent rethink’
‘KCC cannot afford to wait any longer. There were two deaths recently’
A junction where pedestrians are forced to play “Russian roulette” when attempting to cross needs a drastic redesign, say concerned councillors.
The four-way convergence of St George’s Place, New Dover Road, and Upper and Lower Chantry Lane is one of the mostused crossings in the city.
But the crossroads, which is outside Waitrose and Premier Inn, is not fully controlled by traffic lights for pedestrians - leaving walkers with little option but to “try their luck” when crossing.
There are calls for Kent County Council to reconfigure the layout to ensure safety is significantly bolstered.
Former university lecturer Anne Seller and student Samuel Lewis both lost their lives crossing St George’s Place in separate incidents in November last year, while near-misses with pedestrians misjudging the sequence of lights continue to be a regular occurrence.
KCC says it is working to “find ways of enhancing” the road network, and developers behind the much-delayed 4,000home Mountfield Park scheme
to the south of the city are due to be paying for junction improvements in the coming years.
But Labour councillor for Barton ward, Connie Nolan, says action is needed immediately.
“I have grave concerns about pedestrian safety,” she said.
“The whole layout needs a radical rethink. KCC cannot afford to wait any longer.
“There were two deaths along that stretch recently and you’d have thought that might be a wake-up call. But they just say work will be done with the Mountfield Park development yet that’s not good enough and is a long way off.
“I often see families there who have pushed the button and are waiting to be able to cross.
“But it’s all set up for traffic flow, so pressing the buttons makes no difference. KCC is more concerned about traffic flow than the pedestrian safety. It’s an absolute travesty.”
Twitter user David Orr posted at the weekend, stating how using the crossing was “as stressful as Russian roulette”, highlighting how there is little pedestrian assistance.
Mountfield Park developers must finalise improvements to the junction by law before the 499th house is occupied.
Planning conditions state:
“It is proposed that the signal stages are to be amended, which will provide for greater capacity for vehicles on New Dover Road. A new filter lane is also proposed on the St George’s Place arm of this junction travelling towards the city centre to provide additional capacity for this movement.
“It is proposed that the right hand turn from St George’s Place into Upper Chantry Lane will be prohibited for general traffic due to relatively low vehicle flows for this movement.”
Meanwhile, KCC says road safety is a “top priority”.
A spokesman said: “We are working with the local authority to find ways of enhancing our network to incorporate the Mountfield Park development in Canterbury.
“Officers take an evidence-based, data-led approach when looking at the merits of adapting roads. There are no plans for improvements over and above what has been set out at the current time.
“However, KCC reviews all reported injury related crashes. If there is a pattern of crashes identified at this location during our next annual review then further highway improvements will be implemented. The next review should take place in two to four months.”
What do you think? Email kentishgazette@thekmgroup. co.uk.