Blow to Royston school crossing campaign

A CAMPAIGN to safeguard pupils at a Royston school after a boy was hit by a car has been rebuffed by Hertfordshire Highways.

Royston resident Terry Hutt presented a petition with more than 1,000 signatures to the Highway Joint Member Panel two weeks ago asking for a school crossing patrol and a signal controlled crossing to be installed outside Tannery Drift First School.

Last week the veteran campaigner, who pressed for action after pupil Patryk Mamuot suffered serious head injuries after colliding with a car in Baldock Street last year, received a letter from the authority which stated that surveys of crossing activity in the road following the accident did not meet the national criteria required.

The request for the existing pedestrian crossing to be upgraded to a signal controlled crossing will also not go ahead unless further funding is secured as the panel’s 2011-12 budget is already “fully committed”.

“The location is not included in the Royston Urban Transport Plan as adopted last year, and consequently is unlikely to feature in one of our core funded programmes for the time being,” said Roger Flowerday, lead assistant district manager at Hertfordshire Highways.

“At present we are pursuing a number of potential discretionary funding sources but we are unable to confirm if or when funding for this investigation will be secured.”

Responding, Mr Hutt said: “They’ve done their survey but we’re talking about lives at stake.

“Why can’t every school have a crossing? I’m not happy and I won’t stop. I’ll never give up.”