Chorley mums cutting back on road safety fears

The mums, who all have children at Clayton le Woods C of E School, took their gardening gloves and tools out to Town Brow on Thursday, after growing tired of a lack of official action on overgrown footpaths.

One of the mums, Angela Jones, said: “The path is very overgrown when we approach Cuerden Valley at the bottom of the hill, which means we have to walk past in single file or step into the road to let other people passed due to social distancing.

“We feel we are taking our life in our own hands when this happens. I also find that children, especially the infants, step into the road and I am as you can imagine petrified that there is going to be a fatal accident.”

Councillor Mark Clifford placed a Speed Indicator Device (SPID) in the road on Monday, which recorded vehicles driving up to 49mph in a 30mph zone.

Mrs Jones added: “Neither Lancashire County Council’s highways team, nor Cuerden Valley Park trustees say it’s their responsibility. We’re not prepared to wait for an accident to happen, so we’ve done the work ourselves. But this isn’t a long-term solution, and a proper maintenance plan needs to be put into place.”

Cuerden Valley trustees said it was Himalayan Balsam on the highway verge, and the responsibility of Lancashire County Council.

LCC did not respond to inquiries from the Post.

Councillor Clifford is now chasing up a meeting with the County Council to fund and install fixed wired-in, speed awareness device.

He said he is "disappointed" at the lack of action, having been campaigning on the issue for more than two years.

He is now chasing up a meeting with the County Council to fund and install fixed wired-in, speed awareness devices with ANPR. It is hoped the funding will come from CIL funds (Construction Infrastructure Levy) which is paid for by housing developers.