By Charlotte Newton A NEW 20mph speed limit is being introduced in Crouch End, in preparation for the expansion of Coleridge Primary School in September. Work started yesterday on making the roads around the school on Crouch End Hill safer. The council ho

By Charlotte Newton

A NEW 20mph speed limit is being introduced in Crouch End, in preparation for the expansion of Coleridge Primary School in September.

Work started yesterday on making the roads around the school on Crouch End Hill safer.

The council hopes that its traffic plan, which was drawn up in collaboration with Coleridge School Road Safety Expansion Group and parents, will improve road safety ahead of the arrival of an extra 120 four-year-olds in September.

The plans include:

o A 20mph zone in Crouch End Hill, from just south of the junction with Edison Road to north of the junction with Hornsey Lane

o Replacing the zebra crossing in Crouch End Hill, between the junctions of Waverley Road and Haslemere Road, with a raised speed table and puffin crossing. This has detectors which can tell when pedestrians are waiting and gives them more time to cross the road.

o Introducing raised entry treatments (speed tables) at the junctions of Crouch End Hill with Haslemere Road, Waverley Road, Christchurch Road, Crescent Road and Edison Road

o Introducing a new vehicle turning area at the southern end of Crescent Road

The scheme also includes replacing railings and introducing new double yellow lines double yellow lines in Crescent Road.

Marilyn Sparrow, Vice Chair of Governors at Coleridge School, welcomed the scheme. She said: "The traffic calming measures which Haringey Council is introducing around Coleridge are very largely the ones which the governors and parents from the school stipulated to the council during the planning and consultation process for the school development, so we are very pleased that they are now being implemented.

"The school encourages pupils and staff to walk, cycle or use public transport and we believe that the new traffic calming measures will encourage even more people to do this, which will be a very positive step."

But Sue Hessel, chair of Haslemere Residents' Association, said: "I still think these measures are totally inadequate for the extra 420 infant children aged under 7 who will eventually be arriving at the school.

"Most of them will travel to and from school with their parents by car which will only exacerbate parking problems for residents living in the surrounding streets.

"There is still no parking for teachers at the school and the new 20mph speed limit is meaningless because you can't travel faster than that in the rush hour due to the sheer volume of traffic.

"There are bound to be altercations between drivers who are rushing around at that time in the morning."

Cabinet Member for Environment and Conservation, Cllr Brian Haley, said: "We've been working hard to improve safety around schools across Haringey.

"This is succeeding not only in reducing injuries and casualties on the borough's roads, but also in encouraging more parents to allow their children to walk or cycle to school, rather than taking them by car.

"I am confident this new scheme will have a similar effect at Coleridge, but we will continue to monitor the situation to see if further improvements can be made."

The works started yesterday and are expected to take 14 weeks to complete.

Anyone with questions about the scheme can call Clement Frempong on 020-8 489 1216.

charlotte.newton@hamhigh.co.uk