THE Mayor of Haslemere has demanded immediate traffic-calming measures for one of the busiest roads in the town. "I am appalled by what I have just heard," said Michael Dover after a Haslemere mother of two young children told the town council of the continuing "nightmare" of crossing Lower Street. "It strikes me as a game of pass-the-parcel where bureaucracy has become an industry in itself," declared Mr Dover, criticising Surrey County Council (SCC) for its lack of action. Addressing Haslemere town councillors at the planning and highways meeting last week, Vicky Leake, who has lived in Lower Street for the past four years, has taken up the cudgels in the long- running battle for a pedestrian crossing in the road. She told The Herald that it has become "totally impossible to cross" because of speeding traffic. "It is everyone's worst nightmare. I have to cross it up to four times a day. There are constant near misses and drivers have to slam on their brakes," said Mrs Leake. She crosses the road near the bus stop with her two daughters, aged two and four. "There should be a pedestrian crossing and a 20 mph speed limit," declared Mrs Leake, who presented a petition bearing more than 1,000 signatures to Surrey County Council last December, calling for safer pedestrian access to the town. Reading from a prepared statement at the meeting last Thursday, Mrs Leake claimed that Surrey County Council had responded "by putting 'slow' markings in place". She added: "Unfortunately these were already in place before the petition. "They made no difference then and they make no difference now." She claimed that, despite repeated assurances from SCC, still nothing had been done to resolve the problem. "SCC could have quite easily assisted the residents, shopkeepers and visitors to Lower Street, the B2141, by putting an interactive sign on the most dangerous crossing point, outside the Surrey Clock Shop, to ensure that motorists adhere to the speed limit, so the constituents of Haslemere can cross Lower Street safely and without fear. "I am appalled that SCC saw fit to give Pine View Close and Weydown Road interactive signs while ignoring the request of more than 1,000 constituents for traffic calming. "Pine View Close does not experience the same volume of traffic as Lower Street, does not have narrow pavements, nor a bus stop or shops which local school children, the elderly and commuters need to access," Mrs Leake told town councillors. She claimed that the county council has "continued to do nothing" after being repeatedly asked to help, that it holds local residents in "contempt", and is also putting lives at risk. Mrs Leake also took issue with a speed check carried out in the street in November, 2004. Within 15 minutes, 13 of the 100 vehicles travelling on the road were at speeds between 31 mph and 37 mph. "A pedestrian hit by a car travelling at speeds above 30 mph is more than likely to be killed or seriously maimed. "This is a stretch of road that school children, the elderly and the vulnerable need to cross to gain access to the bus stop, the shops and their homes," said Mrs Leake, who is appealing for a 20 mph limit. "The residents of Lower Street would very much like SCC to address this matter with the same urgency it did for residents of Weydown Road and Pine View Close," concluded Mrs Leake. "The main thing is to get a solution, interactive signs and a 20 mph speed limit." The town council agreed that traffic- calming measures must be put in place immediately and Mr Dover promised to look into the matter personally. In a letter from the SCC's new area transport director, Bob Moodie, to Mrs Leake which arrived the day after the meeting on January 20, Mr Moodie said that past history had shown that the layout of the junction of Lower Street and Shepherds Hill precluded the installation of "any form of controlled crossing within the existing highway boundary". This, said Mr Moodie, had been a "matter of great frustration at the time". Mrs Leake has also written to local MP Jeremy Hunt, taking issue with the speeding motorists in an effort to bring about the urgent improvements. Surrey county councillor for Haslemere Christine Stevens said that the signs on the road and metal signs had been erected as warnings to motorists to slow down, as a stop-gap solution. She said that the installation of a crossing was "technically difficult" because of space restrictions on the pavements. However, she said: "We have not yet given up and councillors are to consider a Milford-Haslemere A286 study, which includes Lower Street, to determine a programme of works."
