Ken, and many other people, have voiced concerns about emergency services gaining access to the part of town served by the renowned bottleneck that is Grammar School Road.
Ken says: "There has been long-standing concern about the congestion on Grammar School Road and the effects that such congestion could potentially pose should the emergency services need to access the various schools and estates off the road."
Ken thinks there was "no significant hindrance" when two fire engines and an emergency control vehicle needed to respond to the call-out on Friday, it being late in the morning.
But he adds: "The question remains, nevertheless, whether the fire service response time would have been unaffected should the emergency have occurred during pre- and post-school times when the road is exceptionally busy."
As alternatives, the fire service crews could have gone down Glebe Road, having to traverse the speed retarders. Or they could have used Wrawby Road and Woodbine Avenue to reach Hawthorn Avenue. Both routes would have taken longer.
Read a report of the fire here
When the new Vale Academy is built and a by-pass road provided from Atherton Way, it should help reduce some of the problems caused by the Grammar School Road bottleneck. But the best solution for those living on the Springbank housing estate remains a new road from the A18, on Wrawby Road, to connect with Horstead Avenue or South View Avenue.
Currently, there are also congestion issues on Grammar School Road in the evenings and at weekends when residents without garages park their cars, legally, on the street, together with vehicles belonging to people visiting the area. It's often difficult at night to get a family car through a gap between the top of Redcombe Lane and Preston Drive junction, never mind a fire engine or ambulance.
main prob is the pinch point at glanford court ie car's parked from glanford court to vale along terraced houses,from glanford court to redcombe lane terraced houses often have to wait there.
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