§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Jamieson.]
§ 12.6 am
§ Mr. Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham)As the mass exodus of hon. Members from the Chamber will demonstrate, the subject of safety of children on the stretch of the A27 between Shoreham and Sompting is not necessarily of universal interest—although the wider implications of road safety, especially for children, certainly are of interest to all hon. Members. In my constituency, for my constituents, the subject of road safety is literally a matter of life and death.
I am grateful to the Minister for Transport in London, who cannot attend this debate, as she has taken an active interest in the subject, and recently visited my constituency to investigate our problem at first hand. I am grateful also for the input provided by Lady Hayman. My sympathies perhaps go to the Minister for London and Construction for having to stand in for his colleague in this debate. I shall therefore not start my speech by saying, "The Minister is undoubtedly aware of the problems on that particular stretch of the A27." Moreover—for once in dealing with the A27—I shall not be majoring on the issue of the Worthing bypass, which, although it is a very large issue, is another matter entirely.
As the south coast corridor, the A27 intersects my constituency, dividing the downs from the sea. It is the main trunk road between Folkestone and Honiton, and takes a great deal of through freight. It has also become much busier since completion of the Southwick tunnel a couple of years ago, and traffic is increasing. The road divides the villages of Sompting and Lancing—which has the distinction of being the largest village in England.
The problem is that, right on the edge of the A27 is the Boundstone community college, which is the secondary school serving Sompting, Lancing and beyond. Frankly, it is a pretty bad place to site a major school such as this. The problem is that, on the eastern approach to the school, the road hits a blind bend. From the western approach, the school is situated just beneath the brow of a hill.
A child starting at Boundstone community college who lives in the north of Lancing or Sompting is likely to cross the road no fewer than 3,000 times in his school career, just to get to school and home again. The chances of any child having an accident are therefore quite high. Today, one can drive on motorway or fast, motorway-standard road virtually all the way from Newcastle to within just a mile of the school. Then, in the area immediately before the school, the speed limit becomes, officially, 40 mph. The problem is that that limit is not adhered to.
Over the past 11 or so years, there have been as many deaths on this stretch of road—an average of one fatality a year. In February 1997, Scott Purdie, a 13-year-old pupil of Boundstone community college, was killed on the pelican crossing outside the school while going to or from home for lunch. A few months later, a grown man from Lancing was knocked down and killed in broad daylight crossing the stretch of road just along from the school.
On 14 January this year, a public meeting was held at Boundstone community college. At that meeting, which I attended, we heard moving accounts from the mothers of two children who had been killed on that road, including 272 the mother of Scott Purdie. That meeting was the culmination of much hard work and campaigning over many years by the school and the community.
In the community, many petitions have been completed, and parents have recently staged many demonstrations. Much hard work has been done by Adur council—especially by the council leader whose ward borders the school—by Sompting parish council, by Adur youth council, by the police and emergency services and by West Sussex county council. I must praise the county council for its excellent recent publication—the road casualty reduction plan—which contains some very interesting proposals.
As with most of the A27, the stretch of the road in question is now the responsibility of the Highways Agency. There is a feeling in my constituency that the Highways Agency is a rather remote body, as the office that has responsibility for this stretch of the road is in Dorking. To give the agency its due, a representative turned up at the public meeting, but since then the agency has, alas, declined my invitations to make a site visit, despite the promise of a meeting by one of the Ministers who has taken an interest.
The agency has instituted several minor measures, such as improving some of the road markings and providing a few extra school signs, but as I drove past the school this weekend, I noticed that some of the new signs are obscured by bushes that overhang the road. A little work has also been done on the crash barriers along the road.
Within weeks of the public meeting in January, a 12-year-old girl was knocked down near the pelican crossing and taken to hospital. Fortunately, she was not that seriously hurt, and she survived. Still, the road is an accident waiting to happen. Statistically, I fear that we are now due for another serious accident.
In Sussex, we like to think that we are untypical, a cut above other shire counties. Alas, the traffic accident figures in our county are not untypical. In 1997, there were more than 600 casualties in the county, an increase of 5 per cent. over the previous year despite the increased congestion on our roads. Of that 600, 360 were pedestrian casualties, including 101 people who were killed or seriously injured. Some 34 per cent. of those cases involved children under the age of 16, and 89 per cent. of pedestrian accidents were on roads where the speed limit was 40 mph or less. A third of the fatalities occurred on bends, and 22 per cent. of the accidents involved cars being driven at excessive speed for the prevailing conditions.
The figures have remained fairly constant for some years. It is difficult to understand how the traffic accident levels will reach the Government's target in 2000, which is based on the average for 1981–85, particularly given that road activity in the county over the past 16 years has increased by 54 per cent. All the dangerous elements that I have mentioned are pertinent to that stretch of the A27, combining to make it one of the most dangerous accident black spots in the county, if not the country.
What can be done? The Highways Agency has just tinkered and talked about safety surveys. We urgently need substantive action. Suggestions made at the public meeting included an overhead walkway or an underpass. Those are well-intentioned ideas, but they will take a lot of time and money, and there will be problems with siting 273 them and in deciding what land should be used. Moreover, children cannot be forced to use an underpass or overhead walkway.
I have mentioned road markings, anti-skid surfaces and crash barriers, but they are not enough. There is also the possibility of moving the traffic lights, but that would make it even less likely that the children would use them.
The key is education of the children. I welcome the work of the local education authority and the health authority on that. However, I favour the easy and quick option of accident black spot signs, which should be alarming and striking. We could have flashing signs, such as those used in France, which have been tested in the west country. We need more advanced signs that are not obscured by bushes. We could also change the timing on the traffic lights to make them respond more quickly, provided that they do not constantly stop the traffic.
The most important proposal that I should like the Minister to take up is speed cameras. We have just one red-light-jumping camera, which rarely operates. I am not calling for a change in the speed limit on this important stretch of trunk road. I want motorists to abide by the 40 mph limit. Speed cameras are the most effective way to induce drivers to slow down. In surveys, 80 per cent. of drivers freely admit to speeding. The public rank it as a minor indiscretion, just above illegal parking offences. Research shows that speed cameras can cut accidents by up to 70 per cent. The trouble is that four out of five are switched off or empty of working film. It is essential that they should work and be seen to work.
Only one in 10 people photographed by the cameras are prosecuted. The 750,000 fixed-penalty tickets issued have raised £30 million, but the cameras cost between £9,000 and £16,000 a year to maintain. I welcome the Government's proposals to reinvest some of the revenue to install new cameras and maintain the existing ones properly. The hypothecation of motoring revenue for safety and environmental improvement, flagged by the Deputy Prime Minister, is also welcome. Only six new cameras were installed in West Sussex last year. Tests by the Sussex police show that computerised cameras that read number plates automatically can work. We have the necessary infrastructure and expertise.
I have made some practical and affordable proposals that could be instituted quickly and with minimal upheaval. I urge the Minister to ask the Highways Agency to institute such substantive measures.
I cannot leave the subject without mentioning the Worthing bypass, which remains the highest priority for my constituency, particularly Lancing, Sompting and north Worthing, which is rapidly becoming a pilot scheme for integrated gridlock. I am pleased that discussions between the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Government office for the south-east continue to identify the A27 Worthing bypass as a high priority.
I urge the Minister urgently to progress the scheme. I hope that we shall hear good news in the trunk road review later in the year. Although the bypass would certainly ease the amount of traffic using the A27 between Sompting and Shoreham, it would not necessarily solve the problem, because the traffic that remained would be induced to travel even faster. Even if the bypass is built, as I certainly hope, safety measures on the A27 would have to accompany it.
274 The Shoreham flyover is a mile or so down the road from the Sompting-to-Shoreham stretch. The A27 throughout my constituency is littered with accident black spots. The Shoreham flyover has been the subject of 12 personal injury accidents over the past few years. The number of accidents over the past three years has been increasing. They typically occur after dark, and at about the same spot: on the Shoreham slip road. Due to problems of light pollution of guidance systems at nearby Shoreham airport, the area of road is poorly lit. More discreet lighting, such as light guidance tubes, or more reflective chevrons could be used to improve the safety of the hazardous zone.
There was a most horrific accident in the new year on that very stretch of road. A young firewoman, Sarah Cotton, went to rescue two passengers who were trapped in a car that had crashed. The barrier had been smashed away, and the firewoman fell 34 ft on to hard ground below the flyover. She is remarkably lucky to be alive; she has only recently come out of hospital. She will need much treatment over many years to come, and her career in the fire service is obviously severely in doubt.
Alas, the Highways Agency has appeared reluctant to do anything about the black spot. Despite my constant letters and requests, it sees no reason to replace any of the 20-year-old barriers, which have been regularly weakened by crashes. Nor does it see a reason for improving the lighting, even just of the signs, or on the slip road, which I believe is the real cause of problem. That belief is certainly shared by members of the emergency services, who so tragically saw the problems at first hand.
It has been calculated that a fatal accident costs £800,000. A serious injury accident on the roads costs £90,000. The cost to the community—personally and psychologically to the families, schools and classmates of the victims I have mentioned—is immeasurable. For the cost of one fatality, we could install serious safety measures that might just defy the law of statistics and prevent another fatality or serious injury for many years to come. I therefore urge the Minister to press the Highways Agency to revisit the problem, and to come up with more substantial solutions as a matter of urgency.
The clock is ticking until the next inevitable tragic accident. The clock is ticking louder and louder the longer we leave it. I do not want to attend another public meeting next year and hear the tragic testimony of another parent whose child has been snatched from her by a needless accident at an accident black spot about which we all knew, which any responsible person could have seen coming. Accidents happen; accidents waiting to happen, as is so in this case, can and should be prevented. I therefore urge the Minister to facilitate some serious proposals in order to help my constituents.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Mr. Nick Raynsford)I congratulate the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Mr. Loughton) on having secured this debate, and on using it to highlight a matter which is obviously of very real concern to his constituents. He has highlighted the particular problems on the stretch of the A27 that runs through his constituency—a road with which I am not entirely unfamiliar, although I have not given it the same detailed 275 attention as my colleagues the Minister for Transport in London and Baroness Hayman, to whom he kindly referred.
The A27 forms part of the strategically important south coast route, linking the channel ports and the channel tunnel with Brighton and Worthing, and, westwards, with Portsmouth, Southampton and beyond. The five-mile length of the A27 to which the hon. Gentleman has referred goes through the urban area of Lancing, and acts as a boundary to the residential area at Shoreham. Most of the length is dual carriageway, with the exception of half a mile in Lancing.
Traffic flows are between 40,000 and 50,000 vehicles a day. The length west of the River Adur is lighted, and the speed limits vary from 70 mph on the dual-carriageway sections to 40 or 30 mph on the single-carriageway sections.
In the east, the new Brighton bypass, with the Southwick tunnel, was completed in spring 1996 and links with the existing dual carriageway north of Shoreham. Continuing westwards, the A27, including the River Adur viaduct, was completed in 1970, when the dual carriageway around Sompting was extended. Most of the dual carriageway is to a reasonable standard, but the road has side road accesses, particularly on to the existing single carriageway at Lancing. If I may be allowed a personal observation, it is not the most attractive example of motorway construction, because it makes a substantial impact on one of the most attractive parts of the Sussex countryside.
Towards the end of his speech, the hon. Gentleman mentioned the provision of more major improvements to the A27 between Sompting and Shoreham. The A27 Worthing-Lancing improvement scheme, which was designed to improve the flow and safety of traffic using the road and to improve the urban environment by removing through traffic from unsuitable roads, was withdrawn from the trunk road programme by the previous Administration in November 1996. The reasons were numerous.
First, the scheme was very expensive and the economic case for it was weakened when induced traffic was taken into account. Secondly, its cost meant that it could not have been constructed for many years. Thirdly, it would have had a serious adverse effect on the surrounding area. Finally, there was a lack of broad consensus on the appropriate route.
Following the withdrawal of the major improvement scheme in 1996, the then Secretary of State for Transport agreed to set out terms of reference for a study to consider what could be done to identify alternative, smaller-scale improvements to the existing A27, and to explore ways in which discussions could be taken forward with local authorities and the business community. However, no action was taken before the general election, and it has been overtaken by this Government's launch of our fundamental review of the roads programme and the role that trunk roads should play in an integrated transport strategy.
One output from that review will be a programme of studies to consider the most urgent problems for which schemes in the inherited programme are either inappropriate in the light of the integrated transport policy or not available. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will understand that 1 cannot give any commitment to 276 including the A27 in his constituency in the list of highest-priority studies in advance of the publication of the review. Nevertheless, he made a forceful case for measures on the route.
West Sussex county council already receives funding from my Department for a transport package for Worthing, through the transport policies and programmes system. The county council has already drawn attention to the difficulties caused by the withdrawal of the Worthing-Lancing improvement proposal which make it necessary to review the package objectives.
Once the roads review is completed and the position concerning this section of the A27 is known, officials in the Government office for the south-east will be looking to work with West Sussex county council, Worthing borough council and the Highways Agency further to develop measures such as park and ride, improvements in public transport, and improved facilities for cyclists and pedestrians, aimed principally at encouraging the use of alternative transport to the motor car and so reducing congestion and improving the environment.
The personal accidents, injuries and fatalities along this stretch of the A27 are an obvious cause for concern. The hon. Gentleman drew attention to several harrowing accidents. The accident rate over three years there is higher than the national average, and I understand his wish for urgent action. The Highways Agency assures me that it is well aware of the problem over this section of road, and is doing all it can to improve safety for pedestrians and road users. It has taken some significant steps over the past few years to improve safety.
To take the various sections in turn, the hon. Gentleman mentioned the number of accidents over the past few years at the River Adur-Shoreham flyover, in particular where the eastbound and westbound slip roads join from the A283, which goes under the viaduct. I am told that, since the opening of the Brighton bypass in the spring of 1996, the number of accidents has fallen, probably because some of them were associated with the disruption caused by the building of the new road.
None the less, the agency has carried out an accident investigation of the junction, and has agreed to carry out some minor works to reduce the likelihood of accidents. Those include adding chevrons and painting the existing safety fence with reflective paint at the exits and entrances to the A27 junction, which should help to address some of the problems that the hon. Gentleman mentioned in connection with accidents at night. There are other measures that the agency may implement if accidents continue—for example, additional road studs, improving the white lining, and signing.
The chief executive of the Highways Agency wrote to the hon. Gentleman on 9 March in response to queries about the strength of the parapets across the Adur viaduct and other issues. He confirmed that the broken parapets had been replaced with a new section. The parapets provided when the bridge was built continue to be safe, although, if the bridge were built today, the barriers would be stronger. He pointed out that the agency could not replace that short length of broken parapet with the latest design, as the joint between the old and the new would be difficult, the fixings to the bridge would not be in the same position, and the sections would not match visually. The alternative would be to replace all the parapets, which could not be justified on cost grounds. 277 In response to the hon. Gentleman's query about the lack of direction signs and his request that lighting should be provided over the viaduct, the chief executive replied that it was not the agency's policy to light signs on unlighted stretches of road, and that to do so on the Shoreham flyover would set a costly precedent for the whole of the road network. In addition, there is a problem with the provision of lighting in that exposed location, partly because of the environmental context, but also because of the proximity of the airport—a point to which the hon. Gentleman alluded.
There have been a number of accidents around the Sussex Pad junction, several of which have involved students from Lancing college crossing the road to Shoreham airport, the Ricardos area and Shoreham town centre. The Worthing-Lancing improvement scheme would have overcome that problem with a grade-separated junction, but now that that has been dropped from the trunk road programme, the agency proposes to install improved traffic signals at that location, together with better crossing facilities. It will also keep the situation under review.
The hon. Gentleman drew particular attention to the Boundstone college area. There have been a number of serious accidents, including fatalities, at the pelican crossing near the college, which is situated immediately adjacent to the trunk road, and there has been a substantial campaign for action to improve the situation.
Representatives of the Highways Agency have had regular meetings with West Sussex county council, have attended a public meeting at Boundstone college, and have discussed what can be done with many parties, including the police, local councillors, and the headmistress of the school. The agency has recently implemented a low-cost safety scheme at the pelican crossing, comprising improved signing, new anti-skid surfacing and the relocation of stop lines further back from the crossing.
There is pressure to reduce the speed limit in the vicinity of the crossing from the present 40 mph, but the police do not favour that option. They prefer instead to reduce the overall speed of traffic by enforcement on a regular basis, and to assist that policy, the 40 mph repeater signs have been increased in size to help to get the message across.
Consideration has been given to the erection of speed cameras, not only in the vicinity of Boundstone college but elsewhere along the A27 between Sompting and Shoreham. The hon. Gentleman pressed that point, but I must tell him that the police have pointed out that cameras would be difficult to justify because of the high installation and administration costs, especially at a site 278 such as the Boundstone college crossing, where the statistics suggest—I cannot comment personally on the situation; I am simply giving the figures—that none of the casualties resulted from accidents in which speed was a primary factor.
To reduce the possibility of vehicles jumping the lights at the Boundstone crossing, which may be a more serious factor in causing accidents, a "red light" camera has been installed on the eastbound carriageway.
The Highways Agency will continue to liaise closely with the police about speed limits and enforcement over this length of road, and it will take forward any measures that are considered to be appropriate. The agency hopes that, in the longer term, it will be possible to provide a segregated crossing, with either a footbridge or a subway. That option is being considered, but it would be extremely expensive, as it would probably involve the relocation of complex services and road closures, which would almost certainly involve a public inquiry.
The Highways Agency is also looking at other measures to improve the safety of that section of the A27 road by the provision of pedestrian refuges and other low-cost options. In addition, the agency hopes to initiate the study of options to improve traffic management and enhance junction capacity through Worthing and Lancing. That will include consideration of bus priority measures and any other worthwhile schemes, which will be taken forward as and when funds permit.
The hon. Gentleman expressed some concern about the extent to which the Highways Agency is aware of and sensitive to the problems he has highlighted. I understand that the Highways Agency's chief executive, Lawrie Haynes, has agreed to meet the hon. Gentleman on site to discuss the various issues.
§ Mr. Loughtonindicated dissent.
§ Mr. RaynsfordThat is what I have been told. I hope that, if the hon. Gentleman has not yet received the message, it will reach him shortly. The meeting will give him an opportunity to impress on Mr. Haynes the issues that he has raised tonight.
The matter is a serious one, and the Government do take it seriously. I hope that the hon. Gentleman accepts that, although there are constraints—not least financial constraints—the Highways Agency wants to do what it can within those constraints to improve the safety of his constituents and of road users and pedestrians in the area. I thank the hon. Gentleman for highlighting these issues tonight.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Adjourned accordingly at twenty-five minutes to One o'clock.