100 signatures reached
To: Derby City Council.
Keep the children of Chellaston safe.
We, the undersigned, believe that the proposal to build a Lidl supermarket on the boundary of the Chellaston Academy, a secondary school of approx. 1700 pupils (expanding in the next few years to over 2000 pupils), will add unacceptable additional risk and danger for the children of Chellaston Academy as they pass the entrance of the new store on their way to and from school daily. We ask Derby City Council to ensure that our concerns are fully considered and that all parties including the Panning Committee are made aware of the high level of existing road safety risks to Academy pupils. We urge all concerned to prioritise our children’s safety above all other considerations and reject this proposal.
Why is this important?
1. Derby City Councillors are being asked to approve a proposal to locate a large Lidl supermarket on the doorstep of the very large Chellaston Academy secondary school.
2. Chellaston parents and the community believe and are concerned that the this will generate foreseeable additional safety risks for the hundreds of Academy children who will intersect with store traffic twice daily, 8-8.30 in the morning and 3.00 - 5.30 in the evening, peak hours for traffic accidents with school children, with some of these hours coinciding with peak traffic on the A514 and peak trading hours for Lidl.
3. A crucial factor for the community and parents is that, in 2015 Derby City Council signed off an Academy Travel Plan which identifies dangers on the A514 and serious traffic problems outside Chellaston Tesco convenience store which has resulted in 2 child casualties in the last 4 years. An approval of the Lidl proposal would place a store, 6 times the size, right on the boundary of the school with the entrance 40 metres away from the children’s pedestrian entrance.
The facts:
1. 11- 16-year-old school children are the most vulnerable on our roads with the highest casualty rates recorded due to road traffic accidents.
2. This store will sit in the critical first 100 metre danger zone of a child’s journey from school where most accidents and near misses are likely to occur.
3. At 3pm daily, hundreds of children will leave the Academy 7/8 abreast moving in large groups. Some may step into the road, others may cross into the new proposed ghost lane but all will have to negotiate their way through cars entering and exiting the store. Significant numbers of children will continue to leave school up until 5.30 from clubs, extra lessons, sports fixtures etc. and often in the dark during winter months.
4. So, what does all this mean? Given the combination of bad factors, we are likely to see an increased number of near misses. Will there be accidents? On the balance of probability yes! The Office of National Statistics states that the margin between a near miss and a serious accident is extremely slim, and statistically, increases in near misses lead to more accidents.
5. This is a crucial decision for Road Safety in Chellaston and an approval of this proposal will make the access to Chellaston Academy secondary school one of the most dangerous in Derby.
