“WE TOLD YOU SO” SAY LOCAL RESIDENTS
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE NEW SCHOOL OPENS?
Seven Local residents who were opposed to the building of the new Primary School on the site adjacent to the Thomas Peacocke Community College. They objected on the grounds that the present traffic problems in The Grove and Love Lane were chaotic enough already and were saying “We told you so” when a lorry damaged the Grove Crossing Gates. The gates were closed for at least two hours, between two and four in the afternoon of 21 April with resultant mayhem caused to traffic coming down from Deadmans Lane.
It was lucky that on this occasion there was a police vehicle on the scene just after the incident and the police woman driver swiftly took charge and directed traffic to turn in the swimming pool car park. She then got assistance at the top of Deadmans Lane to prevent more vehicles going down, this allowed the cars stuck at the bottom to escape.
Rosalind Collier emailed the photograph above and Councillor Lorna Hall confirmed that the crossing had been closed around 2pm and was still closed at 4pm.
“There were police at the top of Deadmans Lane stopping vehicles going down and police at the top of Rope Walk too” the councillor told us. Mrs. Hall went on to say “The police at the top of Deadmans Lane explained that a lorry had crashed into the barriers. I was unable to find out how the children got home from Thomas Peacock as we were out of the town but it must have been a difficult operation for the buses and cars picking up pupils.”
The gates at The Grove have been closed for periods of two hours on at least two occasions in the past, just malfunctions, so this is not an isolated contingency the education authority must face when the new Primary School with all it’s extra traffic opens in September.
The traffic problem will be difficult at the best of times but if Deadmans Lane is made one way, as is being suggested, an even more acute problem would occur if the gates are closed in future, there would be no way out for the vehicles trapped between the gates and Rye Hill.
A solution needs to be sought before the new school opens with special attention to Thursdays when the General Market fills the largest car park in the town.
“Rye’s Own” May 2008
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