Failed pledge over Delph 20mph zone

A SADDLEWORTH Parish Councillor has hit out at Oldham Council for failing to keep its pledge to establish a school safety zone near Delph primary.

Councillor Ken Hulme said after lobbying the authority in 2006, parents and residents were promised that a 20mph zone would be introduced in the area in the financial year 2007/8, but has seen no action.

He will now ask the council when it will introduce the safety zone at its meeting on Wednesday night.

Councillor Hulme, a former governor at the school, said: “The school is located next to the busy A6052 road.

“By any reasonable set of priorities for establishing school safety zones, Delph School must score highly.

“Luckily, nobody has been killed but there have been many near misses. It’s a dangerous road and a rat-run from the A62 motorway.

“The council haven’t even bothered to say sorry. We had a meeting with head of highways, Tony Noblet, who promised that we would have a consultation document in September, but we’ve seen nothing.”

He added: “We were promised that a school safety zone incorporating a 20mph zone would be introduced in the financial year 2007/8.

“This did not happen but we were assured that a school safety zone would be introduced in this financial year 2008/9.

“With just a matter of a few weeks before the end of this financial year there is still no sign of it being introduced.

“These safety zones are important. At 40mph there is a 15 per cent survival rate for people hit by a car.

“At 30 mph there is a 55 per cent survival rate but at 20mph the survival rate for people hit by a car rises to 95per cent.”