Cold Ash parents head up road safety campaign

Speeding and cars mounting pavements are some of the issues parents at Cold Ash St Mark's want to tackle

A GROUP of more than 60 parents and people associated with Cold Ash St Mark's Primary School have started a campaign to improve road safety.
The group said that there were various issues at the Cold Ash Hill school and they wanted extra measures put into place before it was too late and a child got injured.
The concerns voiced include speeding, congestion on the roads close to the school and that cars mounting the pavement to get past the school-run traffic.
The group also said that there had been issues with drivers becoming impatient at the chicanes, located just north of the school.
A web page has been set up on Facebook, called ‘Drive to improve the road safety outside St Mark's School, Cold Ash'.
Parent and Cold Ash parish councillor Nicola Fishlock, who spearheads the group, said that the idea initially came up at a meeting of the parish council.
She said that a lot of the problems came down to drivers having a lack of patience and that one of her sons was close to being involved in an accident.
She said: “It's an accident waiting to happen. It tends to become very built up and drivers get a bit anxious.
“I told the council that I had serious concerns.
“We are wondering what the options were in terms of speed control.”
Another parent, Alison Stiles, said that one of the residents in a neighbouring house had taken away a couple of parking spaces by painting a yellow line over the entrance to his drive to prevent people stopping across it.
This, she said, had exasperated the issue.
“There is quite a lot of feeling about this,” she said.
“The chicanes make the flow of traffic less steady and they make people less patient.
“Drivers coming up the hill are annoyed because they have to wait.”
A meeting was held last week involving some members of the campaign group, West Berkshire Council, and St Mark's headteacher Sue Plackett.
Representatives from the council have agreed to discuss what could be done to alleviate the issues and report back to the campaign group.