Out of line

After months of planning, a proposed crossing outside two Southwell schools has gone back to the drawing board — because there is not enough room for zigzag lines.

Staff and parents have been campaigning for years for a crossing outside Lowe’s Wong junior and infants’ schools.

They were finally told by Nottinghamshire County Council in October that the criteria for crossings had changed, and one would be created on Queen Street.

But this week, Southwell Safer Neighbourhood Group was told there was not enough room to paint long enough zigzag lines on the approaches to the crossing to meet legal requirements.

The problem was discovered at the design phase.

Mrs Beryl Prentice, a town councillor, said she was told the news at a briefing with county council highways officers.

Mrs Prentice said: “We are in La-la land again.

“How they can get to this point without realising this would be a problem I don’t know.”

Newark and Sherwood District Council’s community safety co-ordinator, Lisa Lancaster, said: “Surely this isn’t the first time that this has happened? There must be a way around it.”

A member of the group, Mr John Smith said: “Someone is at fault. Somebody is accountable. Somebody hasn’t done their homework.

“This needs sorting for Lowe’s Wong and cannot be allowed to happen again.”

The head of Lowe’s Wong Infants’ School, Mrs Aly Speed, said: “They have been trying really hard to get round the difficulties.

“One of the main difficulties is the siting of it and the legalities of what has to be put where.

“They have tried to keep us as informed in the process as much as possible.”

Mrs Speed said as a short- term solution, the school was still appealing for someone to come forward to be a crossing patrol.

A pedestrian crossing was proposed after efforts to find a patrol for the schools failed.

The last crossing patrol left the post in November 2006.

Since then, there have been no safety measures to help children cross the busy road.

More than 1,000 parents signed a petition in support of a crossing.

In February, Southwell’s county councillor, Mr Bruce Laughton, said the work had been delayed by bad weather, which prevented the road from being painted.

A county council spokesman said: “We are designing a scheme for a zebra crossing outside the school, but there are safety issues which we are trying to overcome. We will be meeting with the school and discussing it with them over the next few weeks.

“There is a conflict between the zebra crossing and the area where the school buses park, which would mean that sometimes the line of sight of drivers was obscured.”

Anyone interesting in becoming a crossing patrol should contact the infants’ school on 01636 812207 or the junior school on 01636 813432.