Families must wait until at least 2025 for road safety works on their estate

Families have been told they will have to wait until at least April 2025 for road safety improvement work on their street. Residents in Lydia Drive, Birches Head, petitioned Stoke-on-Trent City Council saying cars drive along Lydia Drive and Eros Crescent too fast and cut corners.

They believe it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or killed. And they sent a petition to the council calling for traffic calming measures.

The authority has since painted the word 'slow' on the road surface but residents say this has not solved the problem. Now the local authority has carried out its own assessment.

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It has accepted there is a real danger caused by speeding motorists and has agreed to 'introduce road safety measures'. But the work is only scheduled to start in the 2025-2026 financial year, which residents fear could be too late.

Chris Hawkins said: "I welcome anything that improves the situation. There are nutters who tear around the corner.

"Motorbikes come zooming around here and fast cars cut the corner. They come down on the wrong side of the road and pedestrians walk up the middle of the road.

"There is a woman in a buggy. She is in danger of getting hit. I would like the work to be done as soon as possible."

Michelle Meredith added: "I would like to see a reduced traffic speed. It is only a matter of time before someone is injured or killed. They come in both directions too fast. It is just estate traffic. The speed is just too fast.

"I welcome the council acknowledging there is a problem but I would like the work done sooner. Speed humps would slow the traffic."

A spokesman for Stoke-on-Trent City Council said: "A petition was submitted by the majority of residents in Lydia Drive to address residents’ concerns over road safety along this street. Following assessment, it is recognised that poor driver behaviour does result in vehicles driving too fast for the local conditions on this street and encroaching onto the footway. Subject to the outcome of consultation a small scheme of road safety measures is proposed to be introduced."

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