Residents fear for safety of Wimborne First School children

By Marilyn Barber | newseditor@dorsetview.co.uk

A couple who have been campaigning for road safety measures on the approach to Wimborne First School and Nursery say they fear that unless something is done soon a child will either be killed or seriously injured.

Dr Derek Biddle and his wife Carole live in Allenview Road – long regarded as a local rat run – and not far from the entrance to the school which is accessed from the junction of Allenview Road and Burts Hill as well as from the Wimborne Chase development.

In 2017 ahead of the building of the school – work started in August 2018 and was completed in late 2019 – a member of the Transport Development Department at the then Dorset County Council – said he suggested that the school needed to be operational so that the possible input of parent parking could be fully assessed before measures were put in place.

In April 2019 the new unitary authority of Dorset Council was created.

Moving forward to 2021, Dorset Council agreed that safety measures would be implemented. These included: visibility of school and advance warning signs with road markings; extension of double yellow lines at the junction of Allenview Road/Lacy Drive; potential traffic calming of Allenview Road; community speed watch; 20mph zone at school access; the repair of Allenview Road (there are several potholes) and traffic signals at Hanham Road.

Happy that something was going to be done, Dr Biddle cancelled his request to the Local Government Ombusman and the local MP, Michael Tomlinson to intervene. However, he says that so far nothing has happened.

Carole said on a couple of occasions she had seen a car just missing injuring a child, but said the parents park responsibly.

“There has been plenty of time for work to have taken place on the road, such as during the pandemic and the school holidays,” she said. She cites a different state of affairs in the BCP Council area.

“In Dunyeats Road at Broadstone there are double yellow lines along the length of the road, a drop off place in the school and a 20mph limit. Aren’t the children who attend Wimborne First School just as important?”

Dr Biddle’s concerns have been referred to Dorset Council’s complaints department and he has been invited to attend a meeting with Dorset Council in September.

“I do feel my complaints are being kicked into the long grass,” he said.

A Dorset Council spokesman said: “A number of measures are in place, with advanced warning signs installed, and there is sufficient visibility of the signs. The parking restrictions have been reviewed, and are considered acceptable given the width of Allenview Road. Wimborne Town Council has recently applied for a 20mph zone and this is being considered by Dorset Council in line with current adopted policy.

“Bloor Homes are required to provide modest traffic calming and pedestrian gateways, sensitive to the conservation area and in suitable materials, associated with the proposed pedestrian accesses into the SANG (suitable alternative natural greenspace) along Burts Hill as part of their Cranborne Road development.”