Minister is accused of dodging his road safety responsibilities

Deputy Geoff Southern has criticised Infrastructure Minister Eddie Noel over concerns about the safety of pedestrians around the park.

The Deputy has accused the minister of trying to deflect road-safety issues to the parish rather than accepting his ministerial responsibility.

Deputy Southern cited a recent response to a States written question and asked why plans for traffic-calming measures, such as bollards, had been shelved.

He said: ‘The minister’s response to my question on 10 October – “all decisions and implementation work on these roads were undertaken by the (St Helier) parish” – was untrue.

‘This is an attempt to pass the buck from his department to the parish.’

He added: ‘What was the cost of these bollards and will this minor saving for the department, which has contributed to the tragic death of a child,
continue to endanger the
public?’

‘When will the Infrastructure minister admit his department’s role?’

The St Helier Deputy said that minutes from St Helier Roads Committee meetings showed that plans for the bollards had been removed by the department because of the cost and that the department had been involved in the decision-making.

The Deputy’s concerns come just days after it emerged that drivers were ignoring new no-entry signs at Gas Place.

The changes, which were introduced following road-safety reviews in the wake of the death of three-year-old Clinton Pringle on a nearby road on the other side of the park, were made by the parish authorities and prevent traffic from driving down Gas Place and onto Oxford Road.

Deputy Noel declined to comment on the matter other than to reiterate that the roads near the area were the responsibility of the parish rather than his department.

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