Campaign group claims Chesterfield residents are ‘put at risk’ by issues with pedestrian crossings in town centre

A new survey of Chesterfield town centre pedestrian crossings, carried out by community group Transition Chesterfield, has indicated that people are being put at risk or inconvenienced by broken lights, overly long waiting times and overly short crossing times.

The survey was part of the group’s long-running campaign to secure improved facilities and conditions for pedestrians, and to encourage walking as part of everyday activities.

The results found that out of 66 signalised crossings in the town centre, over half (53%) had a waiting time longer than the 30 seconds recommended by national charity Living Streets. This means that at most crossings, pedestrians are more likely to take risks and cross the road on a red pedestrian signal.

Around half of the crossings (50%) had crossing times (when the green man was showing) less than the six seconds recommended by government guidance.

Over one in twenty (6%) of pedestrian crossings had broken green or red man signals, which meant it was difficult or confusing for pedestrians to know when it was safe to cross.

There were also several areas with no pedestrian crossings at all. Some of these included main roads into the town and required pedestrians to walk long distances, or encouraged them to take risks when crossing busy routes.

There were also many crossings where the pavement was too narrow for the number of people waiting, and pavements which were either overgrown with vegetation and not swept.

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The group has made eight recommendations to fix the problems identified by the survey and have sent the results to Derbyshire County Council, Chesterfield Borough Council and Walk Derbyshire.

A Transition Chesterfield spokesperson said: “We want to improve Chesterfield and make it more pedestrian-friendly, which will encourage more people to walk. This will be good for their health, the environment and the town centre businesses.”

Coun Martin Stone, Chesterfield Borough Council’s cabinet member for climate change, planning and the environment, said: “We welcome this report and I want to thank the volunteers at Transition Chesterfield for their efforts in collecting the relevant data and compiling it into this format. We will give careful consideration to its contents.”

A spokesperson for Derbyshire County Council added: “We thank the group for the information they have sent in and will carefully consider their recommendations.”

The group have also started a series of ‘Walk of Fame’ and ‘Walk of Shame’ to highlight good and bad pedestrian facilities in the town centre. These are publicized on their website and will be periodically sent to both County and Borough Councils.

More information including the survey report and Walks of Fame and Shame can be found here.