School Safety Zone hit by Cuts
13 September 2010 by Paul Rhoades
Following Government cuts to the Local Transport Plan, the council have just announced a series of planned and expected safety improvements which will have to be either scrapped or deferred until next year.
Even with some of these schemes deferred, there is no guarantee that funding will be made available for them in future years.
Hardest hit are the planned safety improvements at Berkley Infants and Junior schools.
Consultation was due to start on pedestrian safety in this area through a range of different methods which may include introducing a 20mph limit, extending no parking areas at peak times and introducing safety barriers.
Now, due to the £1.2Million reduction that NLC has been faced with this scheme will no longer go ahead.
Other schemes which have been scrapped include desperately needed repairs to B roads in Kirton Lindsey, Epworth, Sandtoft and Goxhill. Cuts like this can present a clear threat to public safety, and demonstrate that the Government would rather balance the books than consider what the impact of these decisions will be on local residents.
In addition to the £1.2Million reduction of funds for the Local Transport Plan, the Government has also reduced the road safety partnership funding by £95,000.
Many would argue that this will result in fewer speed cameras, but the Safer Roads Humber Partnership also run driver training and speed awareness courses which have without doubt helped to reduce the number of deaths on the roads in the North Lincolnshire area.
Speaking about the cuts on behalf of North Lincolnshire Council, Cllr Bernard Regan, cabinet member for Highways, Planning and energy, said:
"We have taken a huge cut to our local transport plan funding.
Nobody could have foreseen this coming, and the last thing we need is to have to put off projects until next year."
Cllr Regan went on to conclude "After careful analysis, schemes have been selected that are felt to be suitable for deferral on the grounds of present progress, minimal safety impact and other considerations."
When reading the list of scrapped work which the council will no longer be allowed to undertake, it becomes clear that the decision making process which NLC have gone through to have minimal impact on public safety has been a very difficult one.
Central government have been warning about universal cuts of up to 40% having to be made since they came to power in May. With a further funding review scheduled for October this may very well be the thin edge of the cuts we are seeing now.
Road building and maintenance is essential not just in terms of local public safety, commerce and communication, but also forms an important financial stimulus for the local economy.
The current government policy of growth coming from the private sector will not succeed unless there are publicly funded projects available to stimulate business, road building being one of them.
In terms of impact on staffing, we have been informed that this will have no immediate impact on staffing levels within the relevant departments.
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