Pegswood residents feel 'forgotten' due to unsafe traffic island

Residents raised concerns about the traffic island to the west of the entrance of the new Blossom Park development in Pegswood on the C395, claiming it has caused a safety issue and resulted in accidents.

Despite the fact it was installed as part of the Barratt development at the request of the highways authority to act as a traffic calming measure, a report compiled by the council acknowledges that there have been ‘incidents of the traffic island being hit by vehicles’.

A petition calling for action to rectify the situation has been signed by 329 residents.

At a meeting of the Castle Morpeth Local Area Council, senior highways development control officer Michael Patrick said the council were working alongside the developer to ensure the removal of the traffic island would not have an adverse impact on road safety.

And Coun David Towns, who represents the Pegswood ward, called for action to be taken quickly. He also claimed residents felt ‘forgotten’ due to the time taken to resolve the issue.

He said: “The petition has been quite helpful. It hasn’t changed anything because we were already going down a certain route, but it does show the strength of feeling.

“As soon as possible would be my plea please. The residents are feeling forgotten and maybe with some justification. If that traffic island was situated elsewhere, it wouldn’t have been left for a year.

“I’m struggling to keep a lid on that. Several thousand people in Pegswood would be very, very grateful.”

The report said the necessity of the island would be reviewed, and a road safety audit had been commissioned to see whether its removal would impact road safety. The audit would also look at whether other mitigation measures would need to be introduced.

The council’s highways development management team are also liaising with Barratt to ‘finalise a safety scheme’ at the west end of Pegswood, close to the access of Blossom Park. Members of the committee agreed to accept the actions officers had proposed to take.