Online petition started in Burgess Hill for new pedestrian crossing outside primary school

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Jayne Clowes started the petition and wrote on the www.change.org page that the appeal was a formal complaint for the lack of pedestrian safety when crossing Leylands Road, in particular near to the junction with Mill Road.

She said the route is used by many parents every day, with children as young as 4 years old.

Jayne Clowes claims on the online petition Sheddingdean School have also highlighted this road as a major concern and have it within their travel to school plan as something to address.

Jayne Clowes started the petition and wrote on the www.change.org page that the appeal was a formal complaint for the lack of pedestrian safety when crossing Leylands Road, in particular near to the junction with Mill Road.

Jayne wrote on the online petition page: "The lack of pedestrian crossing is, put simply, a serious accident waiting to happen. School drop off times directly correspond with peak commute times and pedestrians are left battling a constant stream of traffic, with parents having to take it into their own hands to stop the traffic to enable safe passage across the road.

"The provision for pedestrians near to this junction is woefully inadequate, not only for schoolchildren and parents alike, but also for the many residents of Burgess Hill who may be looking to cross the same junction to visit the local supermarket, post box, or to head towards town.

"Vehicles regularly travel along this road at higher than the national speed limit, and it is remarkable that a life has not already been seriously harmed, or worse, lost."

The petition calls for the West Sussex County Council to assess the need for a pedestrian crossing across this road, which Jayne says is as 'a matter of urgency to protect our future generations'.

So far, the petition has 299 signatures.

A West Sussex County Council spokesperson said: “We aim to make journeys to and from school as safe and as easy as possible for children and their families.

“The Council is in the process of reviewing a number of Community Highways Scheme applications along Leylands Road in Burgess Hill, including this one for a pedestrian crossing at the Mill Road junction. Petitions like this are welcome because they help us to understand the level of local support for potential schemes when we come to assess community proposals.”

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