Warwickshire News Mine

Torrential rain caused damage to the wall, which is currently supported by scaffolding, awaiting repair works to begin in the New Year.

Although warning and diversions signs are in place to redirect pedestrians around the scaffolding people have been walking on the road and putting themselves at risk.

Surveying and CCTV recording were carried out and Warwickshire County Council also found that a significant number of schoolchildren were walking on the road and have written to schools asking them to warn pupils of the dangers.

The Health and Safety Executive have now insisted that temporary traffic signals are installed to ensure public safety, which will restrict traffic to one lane and providing a pedestrian walkway on the remaining area of carriageway. 

They have been installed outside the Lord Leycester Hospital on the A429 at the junction of High Street, Bowling Green Street and West Street, Warwick starting on the afternoon of 13 December 2005.

Traffic will be restricted to a single lane in alternate directions along High Street past the Hospital and there are likely to be significant peak hour delays for traffic on West Street, High Street, Bowling Green Street, and Friars Street.

No right turns will be permitted from Friars Street to Bowling Green Street or from Castle Lane to West Street. The High Street end of Leycester Place will be closed to vehicular traffic but access will be available from Castle Lane.

The changes will provide a pedestrian walkway between Bowling Green Street and Brook Street along High Street adjacent to the Lord Leycester Hospital.

Temporary signals are likely to remain in this location until March 2006 when remedial works to the retaining wall are due to be complete.

Drivers are advised to find alternative routes during the peak periods. Normal traffic conditions are expected at other times.

Steve O’Connor, Warwickshire County Council said: “We would like to apologise for any disruption the temporary signals cause and ask the public to bear with us. The changes, deemed necessary by the HSE, will safety for pedestrians in the area.”

Lord Leycester Hospital is a Grade 1 listed building, originally constructed in the late 14th century, and is a popular tourist attraction in Warwick.

Between the hospital and the A429 High Street there is a masonry wall that was constructed in 1816. This was damaged in torrential rain on 26 June 2005.

Link to WCC