Carry on up the junction!

For more than 15 years, Richard Ingram-Hill has repeatedly tried to convince Lincolnshire County Council that a road junction outside his Horncastle bookshop is dangerous.
Mr Ingram-Hill’s bookshop at the junction of North Street and Conging StreetMr Ingram-Hill’s bookshop at the junction of North Street and Conging Street
Mr Ingram-Hill’s bookshop at the junction of North Street and Conging Street

Now, it seems the county council might actually agree with him... after telling Mr Ingram-Hill he will have to pay for safety measures at the junction while building work on his shop is carried out.

The junction is where Conging Street joins North Street.

It is one of the busiest in the town and Mr Ingram-Hill says cars regular mount the pavement outside his shop - often ignoring pedestrians.

Despite his efforts to have bollards fitted, Highways officers have refused to accept his claims.

But now officers based in the same department have told him he will have to pay for safety measures during the building work.

Mr Ingram-Hill - who is campaigning for other road safety measures to be introduced in Horncastle - says he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when he heard the decision.

He explained: “I’ve a letter from LCC, dated October 23, 2006, when I first contacted them about my concerns.

“The letter informed me the county council had a ‘design drawn out incorporating traffic signals with pedestrian facilities.’

“I thought fantastic - but no improvements have ever materialised, despite the junction becoming even busier and more dangerous.”

He says he was ‘amazed’ to discover that when he applied for a licence to erect scaffolding for the repairs to his property, Highways stipulated they wanted the highest possible level of road safety protection .

Mr Ingram-Hill says this confirmed what he had been claiming for many years and shows the council now has no choice but to agree the junction is dangerous.

He added: “If 9m of scaffold requires 2m of water-filled safety barrier, 15 cones, nine metal signs, hoarding and lighting, it can only mean that LCC consider its location to be more dangerous than they have been willing to admit for many years.

“At first I could only laugh...and then I cried because I realised how much these measures might cost!”

Conging Street is particularly busy because it carries traffic from two major supermarkets and a car park.

There are regularly long delays at its junction with North Street, caused by vehicles waiting to turn right towards the town centre.

That means drivers wanting to turn left (out of town) regularly mount the pavement.

Mr Ingram-Hill says he’s ‘lost count’ of the number of accidents - and ‘near misses’ for pedestrians.

He accepts the County Council has ‘painted’ white lines on a section of road at the junction to keep traffic off the pavement, but says few drivers take notice.

Mr Ingram-Hill claims all his calls have met with an ‘indifferent response’ from the town’s county councillor Bill Aron.

However, Coun Aron defended his response and said he had always passed on Mr Ingram-Hill’s concerns.

He said: “The day to day traffic flow outside Mr Ingram-Hill’s shop has been assessed on a number of occasions by both Senior Highways Officers and the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership and found to be reasonable for our historic market town – with no record of any injuries or accidents.

“Erecting scaffolding on the corner holds a number of additional risks,and so it’s quite right that it would require additional protection.

“I have always passed on Mr Ingram-Hill’s concerns to Highways officers.”