http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-36...RACEHORSES.html

What news on the CCTV anyone??

Well apparently, according to most contributing members of this forum, it is a waste of money and time and is not worth funding.

Like it or not training race horses is very big business in Lamborn. In economic terms there is far more justification for doing this than building splash pads, erecting duplicate flag poles or holding fancy dress parades. Nonetheless, I'm very surprised because this does seem to run counter to the usual West Berkshire local government approach of trying to discourage business in the area; as the loss of Beyer etc. demonstrate.

I agree, a crossing for horses seems perfectly reasonable in the circumstances, not least because the racing industry contributes plenty in business rates and deserves a reasonable service for their money. Of course I have every sympathy for the users of services that are being sslashed but we wouldn't be seeing that if the Tories hadn't made such an unholy shambles of business rates, and it's just insulting when you have parish councils like in Newbury, raising the precept and spending £hundreds of thousands on ceremonial niff-naff, vanity projects, and administrative busy-work.

Schemes like this - especially when it's the first one of it's type in the entire country - take a heck of a long time to investigate, prepare and even longer for approval to be given by DfT. When this was first just a twinkle in the eye of the highway engineer I suspect the idea of funding cuts would not even have been a consideration as it's likely to have taken a couple of years to get from back of fag packet drawing to an implemented design. Funding was in any case shared, with the majority contribution from Jockey Club Estates and Westcotec Traffic Safety Systems.

This may have made an article in the Daily Mail which is more a complaint about "why have the council spent money on horses instead of lollipops (crossing patrollers)", but it has had a lot of positive noise and comment in the equestrian press. Racing Post, Country Life and Horse & Hound have all given it the thumbs up as a sign of 'innovative thinking' and there are a number of sites nationally where horse trainers are looking to install similar systems if they can find the funding

For those not wanting to open up a Daily Mail link here's the article in the Horse & Hound

As an engineer myself I'd say it's been a very cost-effective solution to a specific problem where road safety could be an issue. It's not the sort of thing we'd have much call for here in Reading but in Lambourn, Cheltenham and other horsey sites it's a problem. I wouldn't want to hit half a ton of horse flesh with my motor and whilst there are specific horse crossings available with traffic signals (the Pegasus crossing - a variation on Zebra Crossing, Toucan Crossing and Pelican Crossing) one of those could be upwards of £50,000 - so even more of a drain on available resources and therefore unlikely to be introduced.



Here WBC have installed a flashing sign which can be activated by a jockey hitting a panel and the sign turns on for a minute or so. I know there's been quite a bit of interest from other rural councils about this feature as sites where farmers cross the road with their herd of cows for instance are just as much of a safety problem for traffic. If they could have a sign that activates when they hit a panel to alert drivers about cattle crossing the road rather than just have a warning sign that's there all the time and everyone ignores it's a bonus.

From a highway perspective this is actually a good news story. Daily Mail has of course given it a negative focus.... *slaps head in despair* sigh.......