Dear Mr Unsworth
Petition for a pedestrian safety guardrail
Phone: 01772 532306
Email: rupert.swarbrick@lancashire.gov.uk Your ref:
Our ref: CCRS/70050
Date: 2 December 2022
  Thank you for your email dated 20 November 2022 regarding your petition for a pedestrian safety guardrail on the stretch of footway running along Eastway between Wychnor and Preston Grasshoppers. County Councillor Charles Edwards has passed your correspondence on to me, to respond in my capacity as the new Cabinet member for Highways and Transport.
Unfortunately, I cannot support a request for pedestrian guardrails along this footway. We use barriers like this strategically at busy locations to try to control where pedestrian crossing of the carriageway does and does not take place, which is why you find them at junctions and around pedestrian crossings.
Whilst a guardrail may provide some comfort for pedestrians in close proximity to heavy traffic, they cannot withstand being struck by a vehicle and would not offer any protection in the event of a vehicle leaving the carriageway. Further, they may even exacerbate some of the other issues you describe. You note that the footway here is not very wide. Guardrails need to be placed 450mm away from the kerb edge and would therefore significantly reduce the space available for pedestrians.
You mention encroachment of vegetation from private land onto the footway, and I note that you have reported this using the "Love Clean Streets" App on 19 November 2022. Our officers will be inspecting shortly and, where necessary writing out to the landowner instructing them that they must cut the vegetation back. I am pleased to see the app being used in this way. I hope you will use the App again if you encounter any further highway issues. The "Love Clean Streets" App also allows the user to upload photographs, and this can be extremely helpful for our officers.
I note too that you are concerned about the speed of traffic here. We work closely with the police as part of the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership to target locations where casualties and speeds are higher. If there is an evidence-based speeding issue, we will look to introduce appropriate mitigation measures.

Our investigation of this stretch of road (which appears as Lightfoot Lane rather than Eastway on our records), indicates no clear speeding issue which would justify measures. However, there is a Community Toolkit which gives examples of how residents can raise awareness of speeding or road safety issues in their local area. The Partnership's Speed Management Programme, which is updated monthly with newly assessed sites and which includes the Community Toolkit information, is available on the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership website.
I hope this information is helpful. Yours sincerely
County Councillor Rupert Swarbrick
Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport County Councillor for Longridge with Bowland

MY REPLY

Dear Mr Swarbrick,

Thank you for your reply to my email regarding the petition I have created. The petition currently has 368 signatures. I also have written support from Preston Grasshoppers RFC, Harris Primary School and Broughton Primary school demonstrating local concern and desire for some kind of improvement. 

I have also spoken to our local LibDem councillors on the matter who support this issue and have raised concerns appropriately.  

It is disappointing that you are unable to support a guardrail, although I understand the reasoning you gave behind not doing so. 

However, with that I am very interested in knowing what will be done over an above asking Northern Trust to cut the vegetation back? 

With the stretch of road being a main route I don’t believe a lowering of the speed limit should be made. However, there is a significant improvement to pedestrian safety that could be achieved and I’d like to know what you plan to do?

Happy to supply all petition details and written supports should this be of benefit to any justification. 

For information I will be sharing your letter with all signatories via the change.org page and continuing with all effort. 

Kind regards,
Luke Unsworth