Pampisford Road Croydon: Call for pedestrian crossing

Parents have called on Croydon Council to build a pedestrian crossing along the busy Purley road. 

Regular users of Pampisford Road feel it has become a hot spot for irresponsible driving and speeding cars, so much so that it is putting pedestrians at risk.

The road is home to a number of nurseries and schools, which means it is relied upon heavily by pedestrians in term time. 

Despite having a clearly signposted 20 mph speed limit, cars can often be seen speeding along the road and executing dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.

This is made worse by the fact that cars often use the momentum of the road as it goes down the hill towards Purley Town Centre and the nurseries based at the junction with Christchurch Road. 

Heavy rush hour traffic also means the road often clogs up with long queues of cars, which causes more problems for pedestrians who have to walk long distances to the nearest crossing or take their chances across the road.

According to Purley resident Jack Connah, these issues combine to make crossing the road a perilous pursuit. 

Speaking to the local democracy reporting service, Connah said: “Almost two years ago my daughter started in Fennies Nursery on Christchurch Road in Purley and my partner and I began running what had become a daily gauntlet across Pampisford Road.

“The Council encourages parents not to drive to school, so twice a day we try and do the right thing by joining parents who are walking their children to Fennies, Purley Nursery School, Christchurch Primary School or the Rotary field playing ground but that find themselves with no safe place to cross.”

Christchurch Road is part of Croydon Council’s healthy streets scheme, which bars non-exempted traffic down the road during school drop-off and pick-up times.

However, Connah and his local ward councillor Samir Dwesar, believe this does not detract from what they see as the obvious issues on neighbouring Pampisford Road.

Connah said: “Everything is stacked against pedestrians and even the pavements aren’t safe as cars frequently mount them to get around traffic on Christchurch Road.

"Cars also unexpectedly queue on the wrong side of the road trying to overtake that traffic.

“To make matters worse, because of the cars that are always parked on Pampisford Road, the sightlines are poor, meaning you often can’t see anything coming out of the junction or along the road until you actually step foot in the road.

“Even when the traffic isn’t queuing, cars speed along in both directions often on the wrong side of the road to overtake cars that are in fact sticking to the 20mph limit.

"Even the things that should be easiest of all to get right, signs are frankly useless.

 “The children’s crossing signs painted on the road are faded to nothing. I find myself thinking, it’s no wonder people chose to drive instead.”

While locals feel the current traffic measures like radar speed and speed limit signs are ineffective in discouraging speeding, they have also praised some of the Council’s efforts on the road.

During a Council meeting on July 17, Croydon’s Conservative Cabinet Member for Streets and Environment Scott Roche acknowledged the resident’s concerns for the road.

In a response to a debate motion on the issue raised by Connah and Dwesar, Roche told the chamber how the Council had recently erected three bollards along the road.

The bollards, placed outside 33, 35 and 37 Pampisford road, were put in place to prevent people from dangerously mounting the pavement.

In response, Connah told the LDRS: “I am grateful for the new bollards on Pampisford Road that dissuade rather than prevent motorists from driving on the pavement.

"However, they don’t prevent the problems that I’ve identified, only one thing will and that’s a pedestrian crossing.”

“There is ultimately a complete failure of traffic management at the junction and it worries me every day that it’s only a matter of time until a child, possibly but unthinkably my child. They need to install one now before the worst happens.”

Dwesar, who grew up nearby, told the LDRS how the traffic problems on Pampisford Road are due in part to a boom in development on the road.

He told the LDRS: “This road has changed so much, these all used to be family homes around here. 

“You’ve got more developments now up and down the road so there’s more residents up and down the road. More people, more cars, more traffic.”

Despite both the residents and Council agreeing that Pampisford Road does have a problem, Councillor Roche cast some doubt on the possibility of any sudden change in his address to the chamber. 

He said: “As we have a very limited road safety budget, this location is not a priority for the Council to address this at the current stage.

"However, we will install a traffic sensor to measure the vehicle speeds, this will allow us to investigate the feasibility of installing a pedestrian crossing on Pampisford Road.”

While Dwesar appreciates the efforts taken by his colleagues in the Tory-run Council, he also believes more needs to be done to avert any future accidents.

He told the LDRS: “Whilst the Council have taken some positive steps such as the erection of bollards and have committed to introducing a sensor and refreshing markings, I believe a pedestrian crossing is the main viable solution to tackling the challenge of crossing safely.

“It has always shocked me that a busy road with a local primary school, two nurseries and a popular park in the vicinity doesn’t have one.

"With a significant increase in new developments locally, I hope Council officers find a proportion of the financial contributions that developers are required to contribute for highways for the installation of a pedestrian crossing.

“Our petition for a pedestrian crossing is common sense, and I will continue to press the Council to take safe, appropriate and meaningful action.”

When approached for comment, a spokesperson from Croydon Council said:  “The health and safety of our residents is a priority and we have been listening to concerns raised by parents about road safety in Pampisford Road.

"We have reviewed the collision data for the last three years and found there have been three reported collisions between Purley Way and The Close.

“We are taking measures to improve safety for motorists and pedestrians and will be installing a traffic sensor.

"This means we will be able to analyse the speed of cars more easily, and we will explore the feasibility of any interventions that might be needed, such as a pedestrian crossing close to Christchurch Road.

“We are aware there are issues with cars mounting the kerb to bypass traffic waiting to turn right into Christchurch Road.

"We installed two bollards to discourage this, but some drivers are still mounting the kerb where there is a dropped kerb so we will continue to monitor the situation and explore whether more bollards can be installed.”