For some time the Ravenscourt Park Ward councillors have supported a campaign from parents at John Betts School for a pedestrian crossing outside the school.
A disappointing response from Graham Burrell, the Council’s highways department Projects and Development Manager.
Further to your earlier correspondence on the above matter, the survey / analysis work has now been completed and reported to our lead Cabinet Member, Councillor Harcourt.
I attach this information. (Here is also appendix a ). The analysis recommends no change to the current pedestrian crossing facilities. The conclusions have been accepted by our lead Cabinet Member who has agreed that the report should be sent out to all interested parties. I am therefore also sending this information to John Betts school, the PTA and two parents who have been in regular direct contact with officers on this matter.
Cllr Lucy Ivimy responds:
Dear Graham
Thank you for this and thank you for commissioning the study.
I do, however, think that the analysis is remarkably weak. For example, much is made of the hold ups to traffic caused by the John Betts crossing, but no assessment has been made of the hold ups to traffic from the southern zebra crossing. It might well be the case that moving the southern zebra crossing to outside John Betts would reduce overall hold ups to traffic, but this point has not been considered by the analysts.
It is noted that pedestrians using the southern crossing find this ‘the most convenient’, but no attempt is made to discover whether moving it to outside John Betts would made the crossing less convenient or leave it equally convenient.
It is noted that a large proportion of John Betts traffic uses the southern crossing, but no indication of what proportion the John Betts traffic is of all the southern crossing users.
The report makes much of the small number of people crossing outside John Betts out of the main school hours, but we are given no idea of how much or how little that southern crossing is used out of those school hours.
I doubt that the John Betts parents will be satisfied with this piece of analysis. I appreciate that it would be difficult for you to commission a second study. Please, though, would you put to the analysts the questions I have raised above, which I think are important, before any final decision is made.
Many thanks and kind regards
Lucy Ivimy
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For some time the Ravenscourt Park Ward councillors have supported a campaign from parents at John Betts School for a pedestrian crossing outside the school.
Hammersmith and Fulham Forum 
If we are to encourage more people to walk (both for their health and to generate less pollution in the process) then there must be convenient crossings. Such crossings would not only slow down the traffic (an alternative to 20mph speed limits) but would be safer for pedestrians. A John Betts crossing is one such, Another is across Goldhawk Rd just east of the junction with Brackenbury Rd. there is no safe crossing in that stretch of the road and traffic roars along it. A third is across Glenthorne Rd (the crossing just east of the junction with Studland St having been removed). Why should pedestrian crossing be rationed?