Wellingborough road junction improvements leave wheelchair user afraid to use 'scary' pavement

A Wellingborough wheelchair user has spoken of her fear of using the pavement close to her home after roadworks have reduced the width of the path by half.

Carriageway widening work at the junction of Senwick Road, Midland Road and Elsden Road has used the existing pavement to allow more road space at the expense of pedestrians.

A lamp-post that had been postioned well away from the path is now partially blocking the pavement on the route that resident Karon Turner-Hawes uses get to a postbox in Midland Road.

She said: "It's scary. The traffic will be very close as I go round the corner. Lorries quite often clip the kerb. I am quite wobbly in my wheelchair and if I have my dog with me there will be no space at all.

"I like to use the postbox there because it's got regular collections. I don't want to have to stop using the pavement."

The work will see Senwick Road widened to two lanes on the approach to the junction, traffic lights installed and some pedestrian controlled signals as part of the highway and junction improvements as a result of the Stanton Cross development.

Mrs Turner-Hawes' wife Marion said: "My wife and pretty much all wheelchair users will now find this corner completely impassable.

"Also, all pedestrians I believe will also find this extremely unsafe as massive lorries and buses use this junction every day.

"Already as a pedestrian we know to stand a good couple of feet from the path edge with the sheer volume of vehicles coming round this corner, often extremely fast.

"We can’t even stay on the left hand side and cross over at the top, as the new two lanes of traffic will also make this completely impractical and even more unsafe."

In a repsonse from her councillor Gill Mercer regarding the lamp-post Mrs and Mrs Turner-Hawes were reassured that the light would be moved to a wider part of the path.

She said: "Apparently, they could not move it back due to a retaining wall, however, they have agreed to move it to a wider part of the path which will allow 1.2m to pass, though they are limited in this as they have to make sure there is still sufficient light."

Mrs Turner-Hawes added: "In the council’s desire to get this wider for cars them seem to have completely forgotten about pedestrians. I'm not just thinking about myself, but all the people who use prams, wheelchairs and mobility scooters.

"I honestly don’t know what NCC (Northamptonshire County Council) officers were thinking when these approved this plan."

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