ePetition details
Make College Road Railway Bridge Safer for Children and Pedestrians
College Road railway bridge is located immediately beside Princess Frederica Nursery and Primary School and is a heavily used pedestrian route for local families and children. At school drop-off and collection times in particular, large numbers of young children and parents use this stretch of pavement, including children walking, riding scooters and bicycles, and parents pushing babies and young children in buggies. The bridge is also used by families attending other nearby children’s activities.
A particular concern is the significant sideways slope of the pavement towards the carriageway. When pushing a buggy across the bridge, you have to actively steer towards the bridge wall to counteract the slope and prevent the buggy drifting towards the road. For young children on scooters or bicycles, the slope can similarly draw them towards the carriageway or contribute to them losing their balance.
The danger is compounded by the narrow width of the pavement. The combination of the slope towards the road and the limited pavement width reduces the amount of space that can be used safely and can force children and families to travel extremely close to the kerb and moving traffic. At busy times, when several families, buggies, scooters and bicycles are using the bridge simultaneously, there is very little room to manoeuvre safely away from the road.
A child losing their balance, falling from a scooter or bicycle, or stepping off the kerb as a vehicle approaches could result in a very serious or potentially fatal collision. This is particularly concerning given the number of nursery and primary-school-aged children who use this route every day and the level of vehicle traffic on College Road.
Concerns about pedestrian safety at this location are not new. Brent Council’s own Princess Frederica School Streets Review recorded members of the public identifying College Road bridge as posing a risk to pedestrians because of its narrow pavements, high levels of footfall and high levels of vehicle traffic. Respondents also suggested traffic calming on College Road bridge.
We are asking Brent Council to assess the safety of the bridge as a whole, including the pavement gradient/crossfall, width and surface condition, pedestrian volumes and proximity to moving traffic, and to identify and implement appropriate improvements.
Given the bridge’s location immediately beside a nursery and primary school, the high number of young children using it and the combination of a narrow, sloping pavement with significant vehicle traffic, we believe this requires urgent attention before a serious accident occurs.
Started by: Olivia Wollenberg
This ePetition runs from 24/09/2026 to 05/11/2026.
243 people have signed this ePetition.