Fight for safer A415 crossing near Abingdon gathers huge support

Parents have been calling for a safe crossing over the A415 by the Europa School in Culham after experiencing 'near misses' on the 'treacherous' road while walking their children to school.

In protest, people walked from Culham Lock car park to the Europa School earlier this month to highlight the need for a crossing over the A415.

Culham resident Amy Sutcliffe has a six-year-old son attending Europa School, near Abingdon.

She said: "Oxfordshire County Council published a report in 2017 claiming that the walk from Sutton Courtenay to the Europa School is a ‘safe route to school’. Anyone who has walked or cycled this route knows that this simply isn’t the case. We call on Oxfordshire County Council to reassess their priorities and ensure that our children have a safe route to school."

Sam Casey-Rerhaye, South Oxfordshire District Councillor and Chair of the Culham Parish Council, who is a supporter of the call for a crossing over the A415 walked with the group all the way to the school.

She said: "Culham Parish Council are very supportive of this campaign. We have been lobbying the County Council for a crossing at this dangerous junction for more than 10 years and have been repeatedly told that there isn’t enough money, disappointingly. I do hope the new County Council will prioritise children’s safety more."

Read also: Parents fight for safer A415 crossing after several 'near misses'

The walkers were also joined by Robin Bennett, newly elected County Councillor for Berinsfield, which encompasses the Parish of Culham. Robin previously met members of the working group at a Culham Parish Council meeting and was keen to show his support for the campaign.

John Howell, MP for Henley said:"It is not a safe route to school and it would be so easy to change this junction and to put in a pelican crossing, the electricity is already here, the infrastructure is already here and it would take nothing to turn it into a pelican crossing."

Mrs Lynn Wood, the Principal of Europa School said: "Last year we received a request from the Education Department of Oxfordshire County Council to urge our local children to walk to school or to cycle to school because of the Covid restrictions and I wrote a letter to the County Council, commenting that our school children can’t do that because of the unsafe route. I’m really delighted that the group are taking this matter up and I would very, very strongly support and do as much as I can to make sure that we can gain a safe route to the school."

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