A plan to add a pavement to help pupils walk to and from their schools in Reading has been shelved.
Hamilton Road is a long, narrow street in East Reading connecting Whiteknights Road to Wokingham Road.
It serves as a walking route for pupils to get onto the Bulmershe Road track to Maiden Erlegh School and UTC Reading in Crescent Road.
The road is also home to Hamilton School, a special educational needs (SEN) school for pupils aged 11 to 18, which is situated between the junction with Whiteknights Road and Bulmershe Road.
Hamilton Road only has a pavement on the western side of it along that strip.
Councillor Rob White (Green, Park) made a request to create a new footpath on the opposite side of the road.
The proposal was made several years ago, prior to Hamilton School opening in January 2020.
But now the request for a new pavement on the eastern side of Hamilton Road has effectively been rejected.
Proposals to change feature on the council’s ‘request for traffic management measures’ list by its traffic management sub-committee, which decides which projects the highways department should investigate for possible changes.
At its last meeting, councillors chose to remove the pavement proposal, along with adding a series of other proposals to the list.
James Penman, the council’s network services manager, said: “We’re hoping to remove Hamilton Road because of the feasibility and unknown costs associated with that.”
The three Green Party councillors on the committee abstained from a vote on the council’s list of traffic management measures due to the removal of the request for a new footway three.
Cllr White, who leads the Green group on the council, said: “It is very disappointing that the Labour-run council has dropped this school road safety scheme from the programme.
“The Crescent Road education site now has four schools on it, and this scheme would have provided a missing section of pavement on the east side of Hamilton Road, at the junction with Whiteknights Road.
“This would help keep children and young people travelling to and from these schools safely on the pavement, rather than having to walk in the road at an already very busy junction.
“Green councillors will keep working to improve road safety. Every child should have a safe route to school.”
During the meeting, cllr Will Cross (Labour, Redlands) said: “I was sorry to hear that opposition green councillors feel the need to abstain on this, rather than vote in favour of this list.
“Hopefully that means that they won’t be taking credit from the Labour administration in delivering these schemes in their wards when they come to be implemented.”
The removal of the Hamilton Road proposal from the list was agreed by the traffic management sub-committee on September 10.
