Create a safe walking and cycling school corridor through Newington and St Lawrence

I would like to suggest that the Thanet Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan gives particular priority to creating a safe walking and cycling corridor through Newington and St Lawrence, centred on Newington Road (B2014).

This is an important local school corridor, serving Ramsgate Arts Primary School, St Laurence-in-Thanet Junior Academy and Dame Janet Primary Academy, with Ellington Infant School also nearby. Newington Road is a busy 30mph road with no protected cycling provision, making it particularly difficult for children and families to cycle safely to school.

The existing CWIP provides a strong basis for addressing this. Route 3 connects Northdown Park with Newington and links a number of schools and residential communities. Its audits identify high traffic speeds and flows, inadequate cycling provision and difficult junctions, and recommend measures including 20mph limits, segregated cycle tracks, safer crossings and physical separation from traffic.

I would therefore like the Council to investigate how the principles and network identified in the CWIP can be extended through Newington Road to create a continuous, safe school route, connecting the schools and local residential areas with the wider walking and cycling network, Ramsgate town centre and the railway station.

In particular, I would ask the Council to investigate:

• a 20mph limit along the school corridor;
• protected/segregated cycle tracks on Newington Road where feasible;
• safer, preferably raised or controlled, crossings at key junctions and school approaches;
• continuous and accessible pedestrian routes;
• measures to reduce vehicle speeds and improve visibility at junctions; and
• connections to the existing and proposed CWIP routes around Allenby Road, Stirling Way, Pysons Road and Route 7.

The detailed design should of course be subject to proper feasibility work and consultation with residents, schools and road users. However, the concentration of schools and the existing lack of safe cycling provision make this a particularly strong candidate for early investigation.

Children should not have to be driven to school simply because the road is too intimidating for them to walk or cycle along. A safe school corridor in Newington and St Lawrence would be a practical way of delivering the CWIP’s wider objectives of making walking and cycling safer, easier and more accessible.