MY DILEMMA OVER SCHOOL

14 June 2005

I Was put in a very difficult position 12 years ago when I was chairman of governors at Grange Primary School, West Cross. The school was urging the council to allow the building of an alternative entrance with a car park off West Cross Lane. I was then working for the Highways Department.

As chairman of governors, I fully supported the proposal. It was the obvious way to reduce the unsafe traffic situation at the only entrance to the school in West Cross Avenue.However, as a highway engineer I knew it was unacceptable. It would have created a hazard far worse than the existing situation, and severely reduced the capacity of the main distributor road for West Cross.

To pass a highway safety audit, the junction off West Cross Lane into the playing field area would have to have had extensive traffic calming both up and down the lane.

The actual speed of the majority of traffic was then and is now above 30mph. Even though the number of vehicles turning into and out of the junction was planned to be limited, it would have offered an alternative to the chaotic situation at the main entrance and so inevitably parents would have used it as a drop-off and pick-up point.

This had the potential to gridlock upper West Cross in the mornings and create tailbacks to Mumbles Road in the afternoons. It was turned down very firmly by the council after advice from my department.

I find it incredible that the present city and county council is proposing a new Welsh school on the West Cross House site with a junction onto West Cross Lane at the same location that was found to be so unacceptable for a small car park.

There is a potential of 400 pupils, twice the size of Grange primary, with a high proportion of pupils from outside the West Cross area. In my opinion, it is simply not possible to build a new junction, to serve such a high number of turning movements at peak times, that would pass a highway safety audit and allow reasonable traffic flow.

I urge the council to research the highways implications before taking this matter any further.

Bob Wyman, West Cross, Swansea