Residents welcome new safe crossing in Ottery

A £70,000 traffic safety measure branded ‘the work of lunatics’ by an Ottery councillor has received a positive response from the town.

Shoppers and residents said the new toucan crossing installed next to the Coleridge Medical Centre and the Land of Canaan would help protect pupils from The King’s School from cars.

When the scheme was announced last year Councillor Paul Lewis called it ‘barmy’, insisting he could not see the need for it, with district councillor David Cox calling the project as ‘a glorious waste of money’.

But this week those who spoke to the Herald were pleased with the new safety measure, which includes widening the pavement and installing a dropped kerb.

Postmaster Graham Harvey, 47, who lives in Mill Street, was positive about the new lights

“If it’s for the safety of the pupils at the school then I’m all for it,” he said.

“I agree with it.”

Fiona Taylor, 39, who works in IT in Ottery, was also in favour of the extension to the £1million cycleway and bridge from the Land of Canaan to Thorne Farm Way.

“I park up at the end sometimes and it provides a safe crossing for pedestrians,” she said.

Martin Reddish, 49, from Pinefields Close, said he was not worried the toucan crossing would cause traffic problems in the town centre

“I’ve driven that route consistently in the evenings in rush hour and it doesn’t worry me at all,” he said.

“It creates a safer route and everybody is very tolerant here, and my children are at The King’s so if it increases the safety for pedestrians outside then it gets my vote.”

But Rosalynd Browne, 53, who owns Roberts Hardware shop in Ottery, is worried about its effect on getting around by car.

“It worked perfectly well as a zebra-crossing, I’m all for safety, but I think it’s going to do the opposite of what its meant to and there’s already been a significant rise in people beeping their horns,” she said.

“I don’t even remember seeing anything about it, it just seems to have come in.”