Dame Sarah Storey visits Middleton's Bowlee Primary School where two new crossings are making it safer for children walk, wheel and cycle

Active travel commissioner Dame Sarah Storey visited a primary school in Middleton to see how two new crossings are making it safer for children to walk, wheel and cycle to and from school.

Bowlee Park Community Primary School campaigned to have a pedestrian crossing installed on Windermere Road due to problems with speeding drivers and high volumes of traffic at drop off and pick up times.

The school’s campaign was successful, resulting in a new signalised parallel crossing – known as a sparrow crossing – being installed on Windermere Road, plus ‘no waiting at any time’ parking restrictions and zig zag markings near to the school site.

In addition, another sparrow crossing has been built on nearby Wood Street as well as a two-way cycle track connecting both crossings to provide cyclists with protection from road traffic.

The crossings and associated infrastructure have been delivered by Transport for Greater Manchester in partnership with Rochdale Borough Council, while funding was provided by the Mayor’s Challenge Fund (MCF).

Dame Sarah Storey visited Bowlee Park Community Primary to see the new crossings in action and learn about the benefits they are bringing to the area.

Active Travel Commissioner Dame Sarah Storey said: “The children at Bowlee Park Community Primary School were instrumental in a campaign to get a signalised crossing outside of their primary school. It was brilliant to be able to visit them in Middleton to see the result for myself and congratulate them and their teachers on what they’ve achieved.

“At this location, speeding drivers and a high number of vehicles along the road at drop off and pick up, meant that it was often a long and worrying wait for children and parents on their journeys to and from school. The Windermere Road crossing, right outside Bowlee, is one of seven new or upgraded pedestrian crossings that have been installed across Greater Manchester recently, including another further down the same road outside a different school.

“Making it safer for children to walk, wheel, scoot or cycle to school is one of my key Active Travel priorities and it was clear from my visit to Middleton how much school children can benefit from having the right infrastructure in place to enable them to walk to and from school.”

 

 

Sparrow crossings or signalised parallel crossings allow people travelling on foot and by bike to cross the road separately from one another, making it safer for everyone. The lay out also makes it easier for people to continue with their journeys whether they are walking, wheeling or cycling.

Building more high-quality crossings such as those in Middleton and making roads safer are a key part of Greater Manchester’s plan to build the UK’s largest walking, wheeling and cycling network and ensure it will fully-integrate with the wider-Bee Network, the vision for a London-style public transport system.

Aleks Hartshorne, Headteacher of Bowlee Park Community Primary School said: “Our school council has campaigned for a crossing to make journeys to and from school safer.

“We are delighted that this has come to fruition, giving our community a duel pedestrian and bike crossing.

“We thank everyone involved in the project which has significantly improved safety for everyone in our community.”

Dame Sarah was joined by Councillor Neil Emmott - leader of Rochdale Borough Council and member for Middleton West, Councillor Shah Wazir, cabinet member for highways and facilities and Councillor Susan Smith at the visit.

Councillor Neil Emmott, leader of Rochdale Borough Council, said: “We’re delighted to have supported the school and residents across Langley by delivering this fantastic scheme with TfGM. Our young people are our future and I’m proud that they are invested in their local area and passionate about enacting change for the better.

“This important scheme builds on wider work we’ve been doing to support road safety and active travel in Langley. In preparation for the opening of the Edgar Wood academy in 2022, we created a number of traffic free walking and cycling routes which connect the Langley Estate with the academy. We’re also delivering more traffic calming measures across the area to slow cars down and boost safety for residents.”