HUNDREDS of people have backed a Stone play centre’s calls for a pavement to boost safety for visiting families facing a hazardous walk.
Come into Play, based on the Whitebridge Industrial Estate, opened in March. But it has proved so popular families often have to use an overspill car park on another part of the industrial estate and then walk along a road with no pavement that includes a blind bend.
Come into Play’s owner Caron Lym, who already employs a car parking attendant, launched a petition for safety measures including a pavement, double yellow lines on the bend and improved speed signage.
Since April it has netted more than 350 signatures and she has sent it to county councillor Philip Jones, who has called for the issue to be discussed as a matter of urgency at today’s Stafford Borough Council joint parking committee meeting.
Speaking to fellow councillors at Tuesday’s Stone Town Council meeting he said he had also called on the county council’s highways department to provide a pavement.
“There is parking at the centre for 30 cars, but sometimes there are more than 100 people there. People have said it is dangerous to have to walk around a blind bend on Whitebridge Lane where there is no pavement,” he said.
“They are calling for something to be done. So many people are concerned about it and it is not just the parents, it is also employees and other firms on the estate.” Concerns for pedestrian safety on the Whitebridge Estate have been raised long before the play centre opened.
Other organisations based on the site include Trinity Skills for Life, a training centre for adults with learning difficulties.
Town councillor Rob Kenney, who works at Bev’s Bakery on the estate, said: “On many occasions I have seen children and families walking in the middle of the road around that bend.” Councillor Jill Hood added: “I have visited the centre and they are a victim of their own success. I hope there is a solution for it, there needs to be.
“But Trinity Skills for Life have asked before if they could have some kind of pavement or crossing because they were worried for their
