Decision details

The Cabinet Member considered a policy on the assessment of locations for pedestrian crossings.

The Borough Council was reviewing all of its highway policies. Many requests for safer crossing facilities for pedestrians were received annually and the policy gave guidance to Officers, Council Members and members of the public regarding the processes that would be followed when considering such requests.

The demand for pedestrian crossing facilities far exceeded the Borough’s available funding. As such there was a need for a consistent approach to the assessment of the appropriate form of crossing, if any, for each location and a means of prioritising implementation with regard to the limited resources available.

Historically, pedestrian crossing assessments had been based on a numerical score. However, current procedures were not fully appropriate to Cheshire East’s decision-making process or its local working between Members and Local Area Partnerships (LAPs). The proposed policy had taken the basis of the current assessment process but included the role of local Members and LAPs in the decision-making process.

Councillor L Gilbert reported the comments of the Environment and Prosperity Scrutiny Committee that factors other than historical data on traffic accidents should be taken into account when considering the installation of a pedestrian crossing, such as the reasonable apprehension of danger.

The Officers commented that the policy was one of several tools available to Officers in evaluating road safety issues, and provided a robust way of considering requests for crossings in a consistent way. Scrutiny members would shortly have an opportunity to consider the Council’s draft Road Safety Strategy, which may be more suited to the inclusion of subjective criteria.

RESOLVED

That the Cabinet Member for Environmental Services approves the proposed Pedestrian Crossing Policy set out in Appendix A to the report.