Residents once again raise concerns for pedestrian safety at access road in Morpeth after collision between car and motorbike

Work has been carried out on a road off the A197, which runs to newly-built homes on the St George estate in Morpeth and the St George’s Park mental health hospital.

Residents of St George’s Wood had to use a diversion for many months as the Countryside Partnerships project suffered significant delays.

It was completed a few months ago, but they have raised concerns over safety with the new configuration – particularly with the raised traffic calming zebra crossings being removed and what they believe is a lack of signage.

They are calling on Northumberland County Council to address their points and a collision last Friday afternoon further down the road at the junction with Dark Lane has led to a fresh public call for action.

It involved a car and a motorbike and the male rider of the motorcycle was taken to hospital with leg injuries.

James Elliott, representing the residents, said: “The residents of St George’s Wood are disappointed in the apparent lack of interest from Northumberland County Council to address the very real road safety concerns we have.

“We're concerned that a child, or an adult resident, or an NHS patient will be struck by a moving vehicle on this access road and we would like to see some proactive action to address these concerns.”

A county council spokesperson said: “The county council continues to take road safety very seriously across the whole of the road network that we maintain.

“We were very sorry to hear of the accident involving the motorcyclist at the junction of the B1337 Dark Lane and the St George’s access road. We will await information from the police about this accident and any reasons that it may have occurred, as is normal practice in such circumstances.

“As the residents have noted, this accident occurred at the junction of the two roads. The issues that have been previously raised about pedestrian safety on the access road are away from the location where this accident occurred.

“The access road itself is a private road, which is currently under the control of Countryside Partnerships. As the road moves through the adoption process, the council will continue to monitor any issues with safety.”