Works planned on traffic calming scheme outside Northumberland school

A short section of the B1338 was recently narrowed outside Hipsburn Primary School, near Alnmouth, but there have been reports of drivers failing to see the narrowed road surface and ending up in the soft verge.

Concerns were raised by Alnmouth Parish Council last month and a scheme of works has now been scheduled by Northumberland County Council.

The work, pencilled in for February 25, will see the installation of a raised table to make drivers fully aware of the new lay-out and encourage them to reduce their speed.

Cllr Gordon Castle, ward member on Northumberland County Council, said: “There is a plan for a raised table in the road.

"It’s not a speed bump. The road will be raised on approach and dropped again slightly as you move away from the school.

"My understanding is that it will be a coloured segment, although I haven’t had confirmation of that.”

Fellow ward member, Cllr Martin Swinbank, added: “I still haven’t yet seen the scheme that’s going to be implemented but this is a concern that runs across two parishes so I think we will also speak to Lesbury Parish Council over the next couple of weeks.

"It may be that we need to get highways officers to come out and have another look. The difficulty is that it’s not complete yet but I do take on board that there are some concerns about whether it’s serving its purpose in slowing traffic down by the school.”

Parish council chairman Shaun Whyte said he had received concerns from local residents and fellow parish councillors about the visibility of the new lay-out, the narrowness of the road and inadequate lighting.

He has also previously claimed that motorists are actually speeding up when they see approaching drivers to avoid having to stop at the narrowed section of road.

"It’s definitely still a work in progress and hopefully changes will be made,” he said.

Cllr Ed Williams added: “It sounds like this may well be the improvement we are looking for.”

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