Deputy Montfort Tadier brought forward proposals to install the crossing after Garel Tucker – who unsuccessfully stood for election last month and lives in the area – encouraged residents to sign a petition about the dangers of children getting to school and pedestrians crossing the road.
However, the crossing will not be built until next year after Infrastructure Minister Kevin Lewis successfully argued that the September deadline proposed by Deputy Tadier was not feasible and could result in other road-safety improvements across the Island being delayed.
Deputy Lewis agreed that a crossing was needed in the area but lodged an amendment that it should be installed by September 2019 instead. Deputy Lewis’s amendment was approved by 35 votes to nine before the proposition was approved as a whole by 41 votes to three.
During the debate Deputy Lewis said: ‘We have carried out the necessary review and we agree a crossing will be a benefit and we will be installing one. However, it is in the programme for 2019, not 2018. The Infrastructure Department has done a lot of work with the parishes to develop road-safety initiatives. We consider all new requests at a monthly road-safety review panel and if any solution is deemed necessary, then they are included in the programme of work.’
He added that there was still a lot of work to do within the 2018 programme and installing a crossing was more than simply ‘buying a £5 pot of paint’.
He said the budget might not stretch to be able to complete the La Moye crossing within 11 weeks. Deputy Tadier said that a 21-month wait was ‘too long’ and Members should send a message to government that they should be aiming to complete the projects much more quickly – increasing the available budget for such work if necessary.
He thanked Ms Tucker for raising the issues and added that he was ‘glad we have got to a position where we will have a crossing’, despite his proposed deadline being extended to the following year.
Constables Deidre Mezbourian, John Le Maistre and Chris Taylor voted against the scheme.
