Girl hopes to raise final funds for zebra crossing

4 hours ago

Cheryl DennisWest of England

News image — Amalie has said she does not understand why building a zebra crossing takes such a long time

BBC A young girl with brown hair and multi-coloured round glasses, wears a navy blazer and jumper, with a pale blue shirt. She is smiling at the camera while standing in front of a blurred road junction. There is housing, hedges and a white van in the distance. — Amalie has said she does not understand why building a zebra crossing takes such a long time

A 12-year-old girl says a council "shouldn't wait" for someone to be seriously injured or killed before a pedestrian crossing is installed outside a school.

Amalie is hoping to raise the final £7,000 needed in match funding to install a zebra crossing on Church Road outside Leckhampton Church of England Primary School in Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) said previously it could not fund the entire £75,000 crossing as it does not count as a priority as no-one had yet been killed or seriously injured at the site.

Amalie, who has campaigned for two years, said: "We shouldn't wait for that to happen, we should put it in place now to make it safe so that doesn't happen."

Three campaigners stand on a pavement the opposite side of the road to the camera. A silver car is driving off to the left, while a maroon car is driving off the the right. The campaigners include a man on the left and right with a 12 year-old girls standing between them. — Amalie and her dad Paul have been campaigning for a crossing alongside councillor Martin Horwood

"I was quite taken aback when they said that they have had nobody been killed, or badly injured," she added.

Approval for the crossing had previously been granted but GCC said it would only be built with match funding.

Amalie previously ran a petition calling for improvements to be made.

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The petition attracted more than 1,000 signatures and Amalie spoke about her concerns at a council meeting.

To reach the match funding, children at the primary school previously held a fundraising day where they could wear colourful clothes in return for a donation towards the appeal.

Amalie said she hoped The High School Leckhampton will also hold a similar day to help raise the extra money.

She added: "We just want it to be built and it's taking so long...

"I don't understand why it's taking so long," she added.

Leckhampton councillor Martin Horwood. He has grey hair and glasses smiles at the camera while wearing a green and brown stripy scarf, and a yellow raincoat with grey lining. He's standing in front of a Church Road with housing and hedges blurred in the background. — Councillor Martin Horwood said he will be "relieved" once the crossing is built

Leckhampton councillor, Martin Horwood, said the issues on the road were "not speed of cars so much" but the fact it is so complicated.

"We all live in slight fear of a really nasty incident, so I'll be extremely relieved when we get it done," he added.

Amalie's Dad, Paul said he was very proud of his daughter: "What we're trying to do here, is create something of value to the community, and to keep the children safe."

Gloucestershire County Council had previously said it recognised the road was difficult for children to cross.

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