1,000 Signatures and a Traffic Count: How Bessels Green Forced Action on a Dangerous A25 Crossing

Families in Bessels Green are closer than ever to getting the safe crossing across the A25 they have been asking for — thanks to group of determined local residents who refused to give up.

For several years, local families have been begging for a pedestrian crossing on the busy A25. Since 2019 each Conservative candidate standing for election at District or County level has promised to bring this about. Yet for 7 years, these councillors have only talked, with no visible, provable evidence of any progress or action. 

The residents grew tired of waiting, so they decided to act. 

Last November, seven local mums — including Lib Dem councillors Sandra Robinson and Michelle Alger — took matters into their own hands. Together they printed petitions, delivered 600 through local doors, and gathered signatures from parents at the school gates.

Within a few weeks, over 1,000 residents had signed — enough to force a public debate on the crossing at the local Joint Transportation Board (JTB). It voted unanimously to progress the scheme for further consideration. 

Councillor Robinson said: “This crossing is long overdue. Families in Bessels Green have been asking for it for years because it is essential to our safety, not a luxury that might be nice sometime. We have been let down time and again by the Conservatives who promise but don't deliver. I feel incredibly proud to have worked alongside so many brilliant and determined local residents to finally get this on the official, public agenda for discussion with Kent Highways — this is exactly what community action can achieve.”

The team also organised a rigorous traffic count on the A25 through February, and the results powerfully make the case for action. 

During morning school runs, nearly 1,200 vehicles pass every hour — including around 100 HGVs, almost two every minute. In the afternoons, it’s even busier, with close to 1,300 vehicles per hour. These figures far exceed the Government’s own threshold for when a pedestrian crossing should be considered. 

For a pedestrian wanting to cross, the reality is frightening. A minimum five-second gap in traffic is needed to cross safely. In the mornings, such a gap occurs on average just once every eight minutes. In the afternoons, once every twelve minutes. 

On one occasion, there was no safe gap at all for thirty minutes. The nearest formal crossing is 370 metres away — not a realistic alternative for children reaching school bus stops, or residents simply trying to walk to their church, pub, village hall or sports facilities on the other side of the road that cuts the parish in two.