Homeowners in Persimmon Homes Cramlington development Fairways petition for 'immediate' road safety action

Homeowners on Bellway/Persimmon Homes’ Fairways development in Cramlington say the only access onto their estate is via Fisher Lane, where everyone, including older people and schoolchildren, is expected to cross a busy 50mph road to access the bus stop.

There is also no pedestrian or bike access to local services except a stretch of road they must walk along for a third of a mile without any footpath.

They must cross the A1068 to reach the pedestrian network at Northumberlandia, where the speed limit is 70mph.

A total of 292 residents have signed a petition requesting “immediate action to prevent injury or loss of life” and claimed there is inadequate infrastructure to the growing development, where there are already 300 occupied homes.

The council said Bellway/Persimmon is obligated to put in associated infrastructure via a Section 106 agreement that was part of the planning process. However, this is only triggered when a certain number of homes are built, and that threshold has not yet been reached.

The council has agreed to build a footpath across a piece of land it owns that will give families safe access to Cramlington town centre, but officers were keen to stress that this would need to be funded, as would other road safety measures suggested by members at Thursday’s meeting of the council’s petitions committee.

Petitioner Julia Dowd said: “We pay council tax and we don’t get anything from Cramlington Town Council. We get nothing.

“When we talk about cost, what is the cost you put on someone’s life?”

Cllr Barry Flux, who represents the Fairways estate as part of his Cramlington West ward, said: “We should be out there already as far as I’m concerned. This should happen as soon as possible.

“If it needs to be signed off and put forward, can we just do it. We own the land, we can do it, we should do it.”

The committee’s chairman, Cllr Richard Dodd, said: “I understand your frustrations. We will do our best. We will try to get this nudged on, we will get traffic lights investigated and if the developer is willing to do deals we will draw down on that.”