Flagship County Council schemes to go ahead

Flagship County Council schemes to go ahead

The Leader of West Sussex County Council says he is delighted that all of the planned School Safety Zones for the next year are to go ahead.

Henry Smith has taken steps to ensure that the ‘vital safety schemes’ are retained in the council’s programme of work for the coming year.

It had been feared that some School Safety Zones were to be deferred in order to free up funds for urgent road repairs, needed to address damage caused by the worst winter weather conditions for three decades.

However as a result of a funding package just announced, all of the planned School Safety Zones will now go ahead.

Henry said: “School Safety Zones are one of the council’s flagship schemes, having won ‘Pathfinder’ status from the Department for Transport to develop the new initiative some years ago.

“Whilst fixing the roads is our number one highways priority at the moment it is also important that we do all we can to protect these vital safety schemes. This funding package means we can do both.”

The County Council has announced it is to invest £15 million in permanent repairs of its roads. £5m is made up of existing road maintenance budgets and £1.3m has come from a government grant. A further £8.7m has come from delaying some Highway schemes and by using capital grants and funding more flexibly.

Derek Whittington, West Sussex Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport, said: “It’s important that we strike a balance between doing what is needed to repair our roads, while still keeping as many other projects as possible in our work programme.

“I am very pleased that so many children will be able to benefit from these excellent schemes which enhance the perception of safety and improve traffic conditions around schools.”

School Safety Zones include:

• An advisory 20mph speed limit at drop off and pick-up times.

• Flashing lights to warn drivers of the advisory limit, and that they are close to a school.

• New road lines and markings near the school gates.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 11:06 and is filed under News Bulletins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.