TOFT Hill Primary School has been left off a fourth round of schools to get a 20mph limit outside the gates despite years of campaigning.
Etherley Parish Council, the school, Teesdale MP Helen Goodman and villagers have been pleading for a speed limit reduction on a stretch of the busy A68 because of fears for pupils’ safety. In 2014 Durham County Council was given a £952,850 grant to install 20mph limits in front of schools that need them.
Toft Hill was left off the list during three rounds of announcements. The council’s cabinet will today agree to six more schools getting the 20mph restriction, but again Toft Hill’s school has not been included.
A public meeting this month with the county’s highways manager, Dave Wafer, about traffic through the village heard how a van smashed into a house near the school while swerving to avoid a lorry.
Headteacher Janice Stobbs said: “I have been here six years and there has always been a lot of campaigning.
“The mornings are the worst because of the lorries.
“If anyone is standing out there on the morning, it is terrifying because of the speed they approach from that end of the village. We can’t even ask our kids to scoot or ride to school. We don’t encourage them to walk to school because of how risky it is.”
She questioned the rationale behind some of the previous announcements, such as agreeing to have a 20mph sign at Green Lane Primary School, in Barnard Castle, which was at the end of a dead-end lane. St Helen Auckland Community Primary School is on the latest list. Mrs Stobbs said this made little sense because there is a bypass around St Helen Auckland, whereas Toft Hill has been denied a bypass despite calls for one.
She said impatient drivers going along the A68 frequently ignore the school crossing patrol, or are rude to those who operate it.
People also park on the yellow zig-zag lines in front of the school addng to safety problems, she said.
She added: “What is the point [of the zigzag lines]? No one is ever fined for it. It can become a bit of a slalom for cars.”
Mr Wafer agreed during the recent public meeting to carry out a risk assessment at the school, the result of which will be known in about three months.
John Reed, Durham County Council’s head of technical services, said: “Due to the number of schools in County Durham, the cost of implementing part-time 20mph limits and the limited funding available for this purpose, it is not possible for us to introduce a scheme at all sites.
“We have evaluated all schools against a set of criteria to allow us to prioritise sites and this has allowed us to introduce part-time 20 mph sites at 78 locations with the greatest need, with the next six currently awaiting cabinet approval.
“Toft Hill Primary School has not scored well enough against the criteria for inclusion thus far although there remains the opportunity for a part-time 20mph limit to be implemented if funded by local councillors, AAPs, town and parish councils or schools. Schemes financed this way have been introduced at 31 sites with a further 15 in development and we would be very happy to work with anyone interested in funding a part-time 20mph limit at Toft Hill.”
