26/04/13…..Unprotected park entrance increases risk of accidents, says Thame Head

FOLLOWING recent safety concerns about a missing pedestrian gate to Elms Park, the headteacher of nearby John Hampden Primary School, has added his voice to pleas to Thame Town Council to act.

In a statement today, Alan Haigh said: “The school pays a small nominal sum to Thame Town Council for the use of the park. This has been the case for many years. In recent years the school has supported efforts to change the park into an increasingly user-friendly facility for families and especially children, eg Music in the Park.

“In advocating this park as a superb green area and space to play in, our interests as a school lie firmly in upholding this as a safe place to play by large numbers of children being able to play unsupervised with the most minimal levels of danger and risk.

“As a school supporting and promoting sustainable travel in the town and around the school, many children use bicycles and scooters to come to and from school. They should and do use the park pathway which leads on to the highly busy Park Street. An unprotected park entrance would logically increase the risk of accidents.”

Parent recalls near-miss….

Several parents have had, what to them, were worrying experiences, including this Thame resident who did not wish to be named (name and address supplied)for personal reasons:

“The incident happened one day as I left the park with my two daughters, one in a buggy and one on a scooter. We exited the park onto Park Street with my eldest daughter, then five, exiting first on her scooter.

“As she went through the exit where the gate should be and turned left onto the pavement, a white van mounted the dip in the kerb to make a delivery the the house immediately on the left, missing my daughter by a couple of inches!!

“Clearly this exit is concealed, hence I would like a barrier put up between the road and pavement. The van should not have done this as that side of Park street is double yellow lined. However, on a daily basis this does not put off vehicles from parking on this side.

“I submitted a comment on the town council’s website detailing my experience and supporting the need for a gate and barrier. I’m not certain why this isn’t getting sorted as it seems clear to me that as a public space frequented by many people, and especially children, that these necessary safety features should be in place as can be seen in other parks in Thame. So surely a precedent has been set!

“The council has a responsibility to provide the community with safe recreational areas. Therefore, you would think they would make it a priority to correct this ASAP.

“The alternative is an accident waiting to happen… it’s a no brainer to me!

The Mayor of Thame, Nigel Champken Woods, speaking at the recent annual, Town Meeting, told concerned residents: “The entrance has undergone several inspections by ROSPA, the last of which being two weeks ago, and they have reported the current layout to be of ?minimal risk?. However, the Council is responding to the concern raised by local residents and the issue will be raised at the next Culture, Leisure and Recreation meeting.”

PHOTO: The view through the pedestrian side entrance from Elms Park, Thame, onto Park Street