A plea has been made to install a crossing near a school in Brandlesholme amid safety concerns.

Residents of Springside View, just off Brandlesholme Road, have been campaigning with Elton councillors, teachers and parents of children who attend Old Hall Primary School for a crossing.

They want a zebra crossing on Brandlesholme Road adjacent to Springside View and a pedestrian island on Brandlesholme Road, close to the exit of Brandlesholme House.

A petition which has been signed by 521 people has been sent to the council.

It has received overwhelming support from residents, parents and nearby business workers.

Springside View resident Adam Loster said that during the 2020 lockdown, a child was struck by a car near Killelea House, and another car went through a hedge, causing heavy damage.

And around 10 years ago a horse was struck by a car too.

Adam said: “When you speak to police, they say the record of people being badly injured isn’t that high.

“But we want to prevent someone from being killed rather than waiting for someone to be killed for something to be done.

“Basically, between Birks Drive up to Wood Road Lane, there’s no crossing points, bearing in mind that going towards Holcombe Brook the speed limit goes up to 40mph.

“This means that the cars coming into Bury are speeding at 40mph coming into a 30mph zone.

“We noticed and have witnessed some quite bad driving whereby people don’t slow down and there’s been a number of near misses and its obviously a dangerous road.

“We have a primary school very close by and any parents wanting to cross the road have to chance crossing at peak times when it is rush hour.

“It is also made worse by a lack of paving further up the road which means people have to cross again.

“The signage has greatly improved. But there are no safe crossing points in an area that we feel there needs to be.”

Recently, some improvements have been made to road with the installation of an interactive speed sign close to the junction of Springside View, which tells motorists they are in a 30mph zone and also road markings that residents feel have made a difference.

The interactive speed sign was installed in February, which was secured by Cllr Charlotte Morris and Cllr Martin Hayes in a bid to make the road safer.

Another resident Mike Shaw said: “We have no safe crossing points on that road.

“All three local councillors are very supportive.

“It’s very much a locally driven campaign but we’ve enlisted the support of the local councillors regardless of party.

“This isn’t a party political issue, it’s a bipartisan issue.”

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Old Hall Primary School headteacher, Nicola Carlile, is very supportive of the campaign as well as parents.

She said: “Parents want their children to be able to cross the road safely.

“Childrens safety is top of our list.

“We have children who are regularly late because they are waiting for a safe point to cross the road.

“They can be waiting to cross the road for up to 10 minutes.”

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Mike added: “There really should be some sort of crossing because of the primary school.

“Our Lady of Lourdes RC Primary School has a manned crossing and Woodbank Primary School has a pelican crossing.

“We’ve been campaigning for a crossing since April last year and we’ve been corresponding with Martin and his colleagues.

"Martin has helped get things like the sign and the road markings, but people don’t always observe these things.”

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Cllr Charlotte Morris, Labour ward member for Elton, said: "I fully support this resident-led petition.

“Road safety across Elton is one of my priorities and I'm proud to have been able to secure funding for our area, which will see a new crossing on Tottington Road and improvements at the Hunstanton Drive and Woodhill Road junction.

"The top of Brandlesholme Road near Springside View is certainly another road safety hotspot.

“I have backed the calls of residents and lobbied the council to act.

“This has led to the installation of a new vehicle activated speed sign and the renewal of road markings and introduction of new markings to encourage traffic to slow down.

"A pedestrian crossing is the ultimate aim, and I will continue to support residents on this matter, but we must be conscious of the council's financial position.

“With over £140m taken out of Bury Council's budget since 2010 and government underfunding for maintenance of our roads totalling millions each year, as well as rising costs due to inflation, finding funding for new infrastructure is challenging.

“I will, of course, keep making the case for this location to receive investment in road safety."

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