The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A parish council met with Highways representatives to discuss village road safety the day before a fatal crash took the life of a teenager.
On Thursday, January 23, members of the Pinchbeck Parish Council Highways-Lighting Committee met with Lincolnshire County Councillors Elizabeth Sneath and Nick Worth to express a lost of concerns relating to the village’s roads.
The next night, 18-year-old Jay-Lee Waltham died when the car he was travelling in collided with a bungalow on Northgate in the village. The driver of the car was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Three measures were requested by the committee for Northgate. These include a request for ‘smiley electronic signs’ on the roadside. Minutes from the meeting report this request has been put forward to Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership.
It was also requested that the speed limit on Northgate be reduced to 40mph from its current 60mph.
The committee also put in a request for signs advising of horse riders.
Elsewhere in the village, the minutes state that the parish council could request weight restrictions on Knight Street, Rose Lane and Market Way. It was heard there have been three recorded RTCs in five years on Knight Street.
Schools were also a focus for the committee. West Pinchbeck School will contact the county council to request as School Safety Zone and it was requested the limit along all of Six House Bank be reduced to 30mph.
A School Safety Zone will also be requested by Pinchbeck East CofE Primary School.
The minutes state LCC have agreed to a lollipop person on Knight Street “but not Rose Lane”. A person is yet to be appointed, the minutes state. In light of no lollipop person being granted to Rose Lane, the parish council suggests a pelican crossing be installed, to be monitored by LCC.
Representing Highways, Coun Sneath said: “It was useful to discuss safety schemes that LCC may be able to implement throughout the village, such as the possibility of installing pelican crossings to help pedestrians cross more safely.
“I will also be looking with Highways officers at extending speed limits on key routes into and out of the village.
“Speeding traffic is a danger to all road users and pedestrians in every Lincolnshire village and something that the county council takes very seriously.”
The parish council requested the 30mph speed limit on Glenside South be extended “to the end of the first row of houses”. It was noted however that to reduce from 40mph to 30mph requires evidence “to support application and substantiate request”.
The Surfleet Road B1356 was also being looked at for a 30mph limit extension.
General ‘Pinchbeck / West Pinchbeck welcomes careful drivers’ signs have also been requested at the entrance to the villages. The council will ask developer Larkfleet to fund these signs.
At the meeting, Coun Ann Savage requested the village adopt a “near miss reporting scheme”, which would “create some data”.
