Rainhill Village Life - Supported by your Labour Councillors

Saturday, July 12, 2008

SAFETY ISSUES FOR PEDESTRIANS

Many local residents will remember the tragic death earlier this year of an elderly woman who was attempting to cross the St Helens Linkway in Rainhill. On a bright dry wintery afternoon last February, 77 year old Kath Price from Cronton was enjoying a leisurely walk with her partner, Jim Gillespie from Rainhill. They were walking back towards Jim's home and had to cross the busy Linkway at Chapel Lane.

Kath was not too good on her feet, so both were aware of the time needed for them to cross safely. Tragically, on this day, Kath became another fatality. A vehicle collided with Kath and she had no chance. This duel carriageway is an extremely fast road and traffic can build up to a high speed at this crossing point which is about half a mile further on from Micklehead roundabout.

We can't do anything for Kath, but Jim wants us to stop another similar accident. I, Cllr Glover, have done a traffic safety survey at that spot and can see the need for clear signage to alert motorists of possible dangers. It's a sweeping bend and also on a rise so visibility is somewhat hindered. I hope to report some action in the near future.

UPDATE - At the recent Ward Committee, your three councillors were unanimous in proposing "Pedestrians Crossing Ahead" road signs as part of a full Council Assessment of this accident blackspot.

20 mph at St Barts School

A concerned resident who has a child attending St Barts School has requested clarification of the position. There is a 20mph sign warning "school ahead" by the garage at the Stoops as motorists come into Rainhill but no such warning sign for motorists who are driving in the opposite direction towards Junction 7 of the M62.

20 MPH schemes are only advisory and motorists would not get warned or fined for being non adherent.

I have sought clarifiction myself from council officers and have been told that the speed of vehicles leaving the motorway and heading into Rainhill Village is more of an issue as opposed to the opposite direction. Additionally the footpath was of insufficient width to locate such a sign. Fortunately for the pupils of St Barts, your councillors were able to campaign for a pelican crossing at the location, which is in itself an indication to motorists to slow down and be more aware.

LATEST LOCAL CRIMES INFO

In Rainhill Village, the following areas were affected by car crime and burglary:-

Burglaries occurred in King Edward Road, View Road, Mill Lane, Warrington Road and Mooreway.

Cars were broken into in Station Street, Norlands Lane and St James Mount.

Cars were stolen from Warrington Road, Toftwood Gardens, Mill Lane and Garsdale Avenue.

Lynn Carberry, Neighbourhood Policing Coordinating Officer warns that sneak burglaries rise in the summer months. People forget to lock up and close all their windows. Burglars DO look for an easy target...!!!

Going on holiday...??? A relative should collect delivered mail. The Royal Mail's "Keepsafe" service will keep your mail for up to 2 months.
Cancel milk and newspaper deliveries.
Sounds daft but don't allow strangers to overhear you talking to friends about your holiday plans!!!
Finally trim the garden before departure and use automatic timer-switches to turn lights on when it goes dark.

New Application in for Briars Hey

Raphael Healthcare Ltd have recently submitted a new planning application for low and medium secure units at Briars Hey site. Today, 12th July, they arranged a meeting between themselves and interested parties to supply the full details of the application and to respond to questions.

Between 30 - 40 people attended including local residents and headteacher and governors of Tower College. The main outline reduction of the application can be best understood by comparing with the original planning application:-

2 x 8 bed Medium Secure Unit = 16 places (originally 20)
2 x 10 bed Low Secure Unit = 20 places (originally 40)
3 x 3 Rehabilitation Apartments = 9 places (originally 10)
No application for Supported Living places = 0 (originally 7)

130 staff, original application was 210 staff.
Separate ingress and egress for a one way system on site, originally 1 access only.

If the application was successful, Raphael Healthcare would instigate a 2 x 12 hour shift system that started at 7.45am and 7.45pm. There would be 44 persons working per shift and approximately 10 personnel working office hours.

Planning Applications are :- P/2008/0617 and P/2008/0619 which can be viewed on the St Helens Council website. If there are more than 6 objectors to the applications, it would go before the full Planning Committee in due course. (probably end of summer / early autumn)

Labour Cares

: Name: Cllr. Steve Glover; Location: Rainhill, Merseyside, United Kingdom

This site is our information portal to the people of Rainhill Village. It is hoped that we can provide a whole host of items ranging from planning issues, new developments to our village, interesting facts as they happen, indeed anything that you may find of interest. Thank You. Cllr. Joe DeAsha 01744 678980 -- email: cllrdeasha@sthelens.gov.uk Cllr. Steve Glover 01744 678947 email: cllrglover@sthelens.gov.uk. Cllr. Barrie Grunewald 07802 551647 -- email: cllrbgrunewald@sthelens.gov.uk ****************************** SURGERY DATES------------- First Friday - Rainhill Sports Club, Warburton Hey 7-8pm Second Friday - Longton Lane School 6.30-7.30pm Third Friday - Rainhill High 6.30-7.30pm DISCLAIMER Comments posted on this website should be relevant to the topic concerned. All comments are anonymous and any which are obscene, racist, sexist or homophobic will be removed. For personal enquiries we can be contacted by phone or by email, details of which are provided. *** Website designed, promoted and published by Rainhill Labour Party, 628 Warrington Road, Rainhill, L35 0NS

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