A controversial pedestrian crossing removed shortly after being installed is set to return after being “erected in error”, says a Keswick county councillor.
Cllr Tony Lywood told the Reminder that the parameters of the puffin crossing poles put up on the A5271 Main Street, between the Coleridge Court junction and the Co-op, were too close to the road and had to be uprooted.
“It’s an example of a complete and utter waste of money and as soon as it’s in operation it has been shown that it is just going to create traffic mayhem on a scale we have not seen since the closure of Penrith Road for flood works,” said Cllr Lywood.
The £130,000 puffin crossing was a condition imposed on the developers of the Premier Inn by highway bosses at Cumbria County Council. It has been described by Cllr Lywood as the “crossing that nobody wants”.
“The works were done incorrectly and the contractors have had to go back and take the poles out,” said Cllr Lywood. “I suspect that if the contractor has put them in wrongly then it will be up to them to put them back in correctly.”
A statement from the council says that the pedestrian crossing poles were incorrectly installed, too close to the edge of the carriageway.
“The county council network engineer has instructed that these are removed and replaced with an appropriate layout to ensure standards are met,” says the statement.
“They will be reinstated as soon as possible. The high friction surfacing is due to go down shortly on either approach to the crossing.”
Cllr Lywood said the authority was “keeping tight-lipped” about the cost.
The request for the inclusion of the crossing in the planning approval conditions for the Premier Inn came about because of the lack of sufficient parking behind the new hotel, the nearest off street car park being 245 metres away on the old Pencil Museum site just off Main Street.
The county council’s officer decision record states that casualty data for pedestrians around the area of road used to access the off-street car park were a concern. Also within the Keswick Transport Study, published in January 2019, Main Street was cited as a length of road difficult for pedestrians to cross.
In February 2021 the applicant building the hotel asked for condition seven of the planning approval, which related to the provision of the crossing, to be removed.
But the Lake District National Park Authority refused the request saying that the proposed hotel with restaurant and bar would cause an increase in traffic and pedestrian movements. It said a puffin crossing was necessary for safety, particularly of vulnerable users.
