Fears have been raised that a child could be killed or seriously injured outside a Westhoughton school after Bolton Council refused to allow a warning sign to be erected – even after the school offered to pay.
St Thomas C.E. Primary School is located slightly off Molyneux Road – a busy residential road often used as a cut-through between Bolton Road and Park Road – and it is not always visible to road users that the school is there. After a number of near misses involving children, a request was made for a school sign to be erected on the pavement outside to warn drivers.
Bolton West MP Chris Green said: “Everyone in Westhoughton knows how busy Molyneux Road can get and it seems ludicrous that the council won’t allow the school to put a sign up to warn drivers that there is a school nearby.
“St Thomas’ is located slightly off the road so drivers often don’t realise it’s there. A school sign may make drivers be more aware and help prevent a tragic accident.”
Local resident and parent of pupils at St Thomas’, Chris Noble, said: “We believe that we are the only primary school in the country with no school sign near a school that is hid down a side street.
“The headmaster has in the past offered to pay for a sign out of school charity money but he has been refused permission to erect one on council property.
“Councillors on both sides of the political spectrum agree the lack of safety needs addressing as does our MP Chris Green, but to no avail.
“The council site lack of money and yet we have just got new mock Victorian road signs all over the town centre that must have cost a fortune and the school have even offered to pay for the warning sign.”
Greg Marah, spokesperson for Brake, the road safety charity said: “It is deeply worrying that a council won’t ensure the safety of school children by simply putting up a sign to warn drivers that a school is ahead, especially when many parents, the school and local politicians are all in support.
“Every person should be able to walk and cycle to and from school without fear of being knocked down by traffic on our roads. Whilst the purse strings at the council may be tight, you cannot put a price of the safety of children and other vulnerable road users.”