CONCERNS have been raised about emergency access to a neighbourhood close to the site of a new school.
As part of the works for the new St John’s Secondary School building in Epping, Lower Bury Lane has become a dead-end.
Bury Road resident John Newman, who volunteers as a community responder for the East of England Ambulance Service, said he was worried about being able to reach patients now the access to Bury Lane was blocked off.
“My wife and I are responders and we’ve become accustomed over the years to getting out of that end of the lane if we need to get to the other end of town on an emergency call, particularly at busy times in the High Street,” he said.
“Going around the back lane to get to the roads off Lindsey Street adds about a minute to our journey time, so it is longer.
“But at times when there’s traffic, particularly on Mondays, when it’s market day, we will decide to go down the back road rather than add three or four minutes going down the High Street.”
He has spoken to Essex County Council, which is responsible for the road, and said he understood there would be emergency access to Lower Bury Lane at its north end once the work is completed.
“The problem is the time it will take to open a gate for emergency access,” he said. “We get sent to people with heart attacks and things of that nature.
“The idea is that if we’re in the neighbourhood, we get there first, so time is important.”
His neighbour Derek Huckle, 64, said the school’s builders, Higgins, had installed two bollards across Lower Bury Lane near the junction with Bury Lane.
“There two posts, about four feet high and a diameter of a foot each and there’s going to be far too small a width for emergency vehicles to get through,” he added.
Tracey Chapman, the county council's cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: “The north end of Lower Bury Lane is currently closed to vehicles to remove through traffic from the road while work is being carried out to build the new school, as agreed in the planning permission.
“The permanent closure of the north end of Lower Bury Lane was subject to public consultation before being approved.”
She said collapsible bollards would be installed after the work was finished to allow emergency access.
“Essex County Council has been in discussion with the two residents who volunteer as community responders and access arrangements have been agreed with them for when the collapsible bollards are installed.”
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