On Wednesday I met with the Council’s Traffic Management Road Safety Officer who covers Prestwich to look at the “Chicane” on the run-up to Parrenthorn and St Margaret’s School on Heywood Road.

The scheme was put in place around two years ago to enable the stretch of road outside the schools to be 20mph. At the time we are very supportive of the scheme, as Heywood Road is a very straight road in the approach to the schools, there had been a number of accidents including a serious one involving a school student.

I promised the schools that we would look at the Chicane in particular and how it was working in practice. Some people are concerned that the traffic build up (morning and afternoon) is causing problems.

Please let me know what you think? Sometimes we need to balance the need for safety for pedestrians (especially children) with road users.

In Prestwich we’ve been campaigning for 20mph outside EVERY school. We’re hoping to have good news to report on this later in the year – so watch this space!