Gunters Lane won't cope with new High School - worried residents

They are seeking a meeting with MP Gregory Barker and planning a protest petition.

The start of public consultation on Friday over county council plans for traffic-calming in the narrow, sunken,section of Gunters Lane has served only to increase their concern.

The proposals is to make the section from Deans Drive to Beatrice Walk one-way and controlled by traffic lights.

Under the One-School Pathfinder programme, the High School has obtained 33m of Government funding plus 4m of county education authority funding to replace the old Down Road campus with a new 1,650-place school alongside the existing phase-one High School development in Gunters Lane.

But protest group spokesman John Hollands says: "We understand that the plan is to turn the existing buildings in Gunters Lane into a 400-place primary school,

"So you will have 2,000 children and parents converging on that site - plus staff.

"I used to cycle from Little Common Road to the old Grammar School in Turkey Road as a boy.

"Gunters Lane was dangerous then.

"It is even more so now.

"Can you imagine what it would be like if this development goes ahead without the road infrastructure it needs,.

"When we read in the Observer article about the one-way scheme we thought it was an April Fool joke!

"Can you imagine the delay that would be needed on those traffic lights to allow a child time to cycle up that hill?"

The group fear that at peak times they would be made virtual prisoners in their homes by the traffic grid-lock.

John Hollands says: "Not being over-dramatic about it, this scheme is a recipe for a very serious accident.

"What parent is going to want to send a child along that road?"

Council officers will be available to discuss the proposals at an exhibition at the High School in Gunters Lane on Friday, April 25 from 4pm to 7pm and the following day from 10am to 1pm.

The protest group say the building of any new secondary school is a major and rare event and it is imperative that it meets the needs of the next 50 years.

They feel strongly that there will be grave repercussions if the plans go head:

*For children and parents

*For neighbours in the immediate vicinity and feeder roads

They feel the Gunters Lane site is inappropriate and alternatives should have been considered.

In a statement they said: "The suggestion is that a large number of children will make their way to the site either walking or cycling.

"It is assumed that many parents will stop taking their children to or from school by car as they do currently.

"Have all the parents been asked and agreed to this, including those with children at primary school?

"Would all parents be able to comply?"

They say plans to relocate two primary schools to Gunters Lane would bring combined pupil and staff numbers to well over 2,000.

"The current plans ban coaches and buses from the proposed school site because the road network is unsuitable and the site does not have the room to accommodate the parking of such vehicles.

"This is a major limiting compromise for a 'school for the future.'

"One of the funding criteria for Building Schools For The Future and the One-School Pathfinder is that the site chosen has the facility for future expansion.

"As Bexhill is an expanding town with a rising birth rate, it can be expected that the new High School will outgrow the proposed building and demand further development of the site.

"The roads have not be constructed for this volume of traffic.

"The road network around Gunters Lane has difficulty coping now. What will it be like when there is the proposed seven-fold increase in numbers to the site, which would increase again when the school expands further?

"Even with the existing traffic the roads are in a poor state of repair with numerous patches.

"The area around this proposed new build will become a 'no-go' area for local residents and other people in the vicinity of the school, including those trying to get to work.

"The potential dangers are obvious and have been exacerbated by the new St Mary's Park housing development immediately opposite the main entrance on the Gunters Lane site.

"Insufficient parking in and around the Gunters Lane school site already creates congestion and makes access in the area dangerous.

"Gunters Lane already has non-residential traffic feeding into the Chasters Ancaster School site.

"It is the view of the residents that the current plans for the development of Bexhill High School on this site has not given priority to the safety of children.

"The school's suggested measures to overcome these obvious difficulties are dangerous and cannot be enforced."

The protesters also question whether adequate outdoor facilities could be fitted into the site.

They question whether the community has really been part of the consultation process.