Cramlington residents call for better road safety near housing estate

• Kris Jepson reports

Residents on two housing estates have taken part in a protest to call for the council to introduce more road safety measures because they say drivers are ignoring 50mph speed limit.

A number of residents from Arcot Manor and The Fairways housing estates in Cramlington took part in the walk to Northumberlandia and back.

They told ITV News Tyne Tees drivers ignore the 50mph speed limit on the A1068 dual carriageway, making it unsafe for residents and children in the area.

Julia Dowd, who organised the protest walk, said: "We want to have a footpath, which will allow us access to local services, the speed limit to be reduced, signs showing that pedestrians are crossing the road. Ideally, we would like some sort of traffic calming, whether that be traffic lights, to assist pedestrians across the road."

The road next currently has a crossing point, but with no traffic lights to stop traffic. There are also no visible signs warning oncoming traffic of the potential of pedestrians in the area.

Resident Elaine Humphrey said: "There’s a lot of walkers, runners, dog walkers, all live on the estate as well as young families. The crossing of the road is just simply too dangerous to do."

Stuart Hampson, who also took part in the walk, added: "Hardly anyone abides by the speed limit of 50 mile per hour. They exceed that, but it’s also the danger to the people with young families, dog walkers, the disabled on the estate."

The group said they have been complaining to Northumberland County Council about the issue for more than a year.

Cllr Glen Sanderson, leader of the council, said: "We are going to put a new path across the land that the county council own in the next couple of months. Secondly, I’ve arranged a meeting with some of the residents, with our highways people to talk about highways issues, safety and so on and also our planners to see if we can get this resolved once and for all."

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