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Pedestrians Come First

27/8/2022

1 Comment

 
PictureAt the junction of Underwood and Brigsteer Road 26.8.2022
Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users. Pedestrians come first. This message must be heard. The planning process  needs to  be  open and transparent.
At development-brief consultations in March 2014, residents studied plans for housing developments at what is now called Brigsteer Rise. Knowing the volume of traffic on the Brigsteer Road would be far greater  we focused on pedestrian safety along the route, the direct and traditional way residents and tourists use when heading for Scout Scar and the Lake District National Park. 

A direct and continuous pavement was essential and we put that in writing, as we were requested to do.  It made good sense,  everyone agreed.  We asked that the Brigsteer Road was made safe for pedestrians BEFORE work began on housing development. We believed we had done all that was needed to guarantee this result.  So why, in August 2022, are we faced with dangerous site-related traffic on the Bigsteer Road and no plan for a continuous pavement?
' The developer (Story Homes) are required to construct a new footpath alongside Brigsteer Road between Underwood and the new Brigsteer Rise junction as one of the conditions of the Planning Approval.'  Information  from Councillor Geoffrey Cook on 26 August 2022.
So, a pavement into the ‘new Brigsteer Rise junction.’  Intended to make walking safe  for the new house buyers.  What of the long-established community, residents who  walk this way daily?  That was the moment when planners  overlooked us, ignored us, failed us.  It wasn't thought through. Pedestrian safety along that route is vital.  This  needs to go back to planning.
' With regards the need for a cordoned footway or reduced speed limit, the permanent footpath works will soon be commencing following completion of the detailed design. I do not believe that there was a footpath in situ originally therefore there has been no change from its previous use.”
Chris Tweedle
Post Engineering Manager
Story Homes Ltd - North West
Residents would like to see that design. We ask to be consulted before it is approved. We will be walking this way long after Story Homes has moved on. This pavement has to be fit for purpose
Chris Tweedle’s comment that there has been  no change from ‘its’ previous use is incomprehensible.  If ‘its’ refers to Brigsteer Road locals  walking that way report frequent dangers from  site-related traffic. And housing development at Brigsteer Rise will significantly increase the volume of traffic in the future.  So  change is manifest and dramatic.
The issue of pedestrian safety must be addressed Now, and resolved. We need that direct and continuous pavement to Kendal Race Course, Scout Scar and the Lake District National Park.  We seek peace and The Nature Cure.  Once we could find it in Brigsteer Road pastoral but that is lost.  Please, one short stretch of pavement so we can walk  safely into the countryside.
We are repeatedly  told there's no money but we've been asking since 2014 and pedestrian safety isn't an optional extra.  The developer might like to fund that short stretch of  pavement in reparation  for habitat destruction and environmental damage on a scale we could not have foreseen.  The embankment was a wildlife corridor where  well over 100 trees were felled. On 11May 2022 at The Ghyll  residents  asked Story Homes  the reason and no-one could tell us.  Look at the map below. That short stretch marked in red dots is comprehended within the Brigsteer Rise site, between the two access roads heavy-wagons are using.
Walk down the Brigstteer Road and, approaching its junction with Underwood you are in the road, avoiding  a road-sign right on the corner.  At that moment this  large building-supplies vehicle, below right, swung out of Underwood into Brigsteer Road.  Highways need to be out there assessing pedestrian safety.
To know what this location looked like, its habitat, its wildlife  - go to
 
 My Books, Cumbrian Contrasts,  Chapter 3  Ghyll Brow, An approach to Scout Scar 
This is my local patch. As a nature writer and photographer  I’ve studied it and  followed its fortunes this millennium.  Ghyll Brow also features in 'About Scout Scar.' ​
1 Comment
lee finch
31/8/2022 10:25:05 pm

such destruction, as a kid i hunted (meekly) and played in that area, even before underwood was built when it was all just grassland, a quiet area with few cars up and down that hill,The roman road passing just north of this new build, i think the path has now been built from what i can see.but the destruction to this wild area is there none the less

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    Jan Wiltshire is a nature writer living in Cumbria. She also explores islands and coast and the wildlife experience. (See Home and My Books)

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