'Somebody's going to get killed': councillor calls for crossing at busy Chichester junction
A councillor has warned that “somebody’s going to get killed” if a crossing is not installed at a busy Chichester junction.
Clare Apel (Lib Dem, Chichester West) spoke during a meeting of the district council’s cabinet on Tuesday (November 3) where members discussed the need for a signalised crossing at the junction of St Paul’s Road and Sherborne Road.
Ms Apel pointed out that five schools sat within half a mile of the junction – which also joins with two arms of Norwich Road – as well as the new Minerva Heights development, which is not yet complete.
She added: “The amount of traffic there is absolutely unbelievable and somebody’s going to get killed there. So I really think [the crossing] is not nice to have – it’s essential.”
Members of the cabinet agreed to release £50,000 from the Community Infrastructure Levy – a charge made to developers given permission to build in the area – to be given toWest Sussex County Council to pay for a feasibility study.
Bill Brisbane, cabinet member for planning, said a crossing at the “complex junction” was much-needed.
He added: “These works will be needed in the medium-term to help address the impact of new development in the area, including [Minerva Heights].”
Jonathan Brown, deputy leader of the council, warned that paying for a feasibility study was no guarantee that a crossing would be “feasible or deliverable”. But he added: “It’s really important that we try to do this.”
Mr Brown added that the junction was a “classic example of what everyone hates about the planning system” – national rules written in such a way that it’s hard to address concerns based on local knowledge.
A planning officer told the meeting that the feasibility study would look at the junction as a whole, with a focus on the safety of pedestrians.He added that the district council had approached the county council about making the crossing a priority.
The feasibility study will overlap with a planning application submitted to the council by Miller Homes and Vistry Group – the team responsible for the Minerva Heights development – to install a puffin crossing at the junction.