Garden reduced to make road safer

May 16 2008 by Rebecca Edwards, Chester Chronicle

A COUPLE are sacrificing part of their garden to improve safety at an accident blackspot where their neighbour was killed.

The couple, who do not wish to be named, live near a precarious pedestrian crossing in Vicarage Lane where Reginald Case, 73, was knocked down and killed in November 2006.

Residents say many near-misses still occur at the site near a blind bend at the Manley Road/Bradley Lane junction and speeding drivers are also a problem on the road.

The extra land will mean the narrow footpath can be widened, improving visibility.

Frodsham Town Cllr, Dennis Taylor, said the couple’s offer was “a very generous thing to do.”

Residents at last week’s Annual Town Meeting welcomed his announcement the land swap was about to be finalised and pavement widening work, funded by the county council, would soon start.

Cllr Taylor said: “We’ve been trying to make things safer in this area for a long time and, hopefully, this will help.

“But the speeding is another problem altogether. We’ve managed to get an interactive sign on the approach to the crossing warning drivers to slow down, but they seem to just ignore it and I’m afraid a lot of the problem just comes down to drivers’ attitude.”

Highways engineer Mark Jones confirmed the pavement would be widened “within the next few months.”

He said that, although the land transfer had not been completed, “everything is going along smoothly”, and he also applauded the residents’ “very unusual” offer.

Vale Royal Borough Councillor Andrew Dawson said Frodsham Town Council could use its own highways powers to fund road safety improvements.

He said: “We need to set priorities and see if we can afford to use these powers to get some things done.”