"What value do we put on a child's life?"

Thursday 04 August 2016

Town residents are going to lobby the Parish to close the roads on either side of the Millennium Park, to prevent another child being killed.

The group are angry that nothing has yet been done to make the area safer, following the death of three-year-old Clinton Pringle in late June; the toddler was hit by a van while crossing the road on the Tunnell Street side of the Park.

At a meeting last night at the Optimists' club, organised by the Friends of the Millennium Town Park group, there was frustration that no one from the Parish, or from businesses in the area, attended, such as the CI COOP. 

Group Secretary, Michael Haines, warned that other children's lives were at risk, but nothing seemed to be being done about it:

"There's a complete lethargy about action, and some new crisis will take over. That is the smog hanging over the park. We have no leadership at the moment and someone needs to lead with a clear decisive plan for action. One would have anticipated an immediate response, just as a temporary measure."

"The collective view of those attending tonight, is to give us a mandate to call a requette on the Parish, and to ask the Parish to install barriers in three locations, in Tunnell Street, in Robin Place and in the road coming off Bath Street, so three locations where temporary barriers should be put in place, and that would provide some comfort to the residents and Park users."

The residents are worried that the roads around the park are being used by too many cars, and many options were suggested to make the area safer including better signs, speed bumps and key code access-barriers to prevent drivers using the roads as rat runs.

Robert Brown was the original Chairman of the Millennium Town Park Support Group, and he explained that as far back as 1996 they had wanted to close the roads in the area, but were told by politicians that it couldn't be done as it would affect businesses: "...we banged our heads against bricks walls until they hurt. We predicted all this at the design stage."

He was also critical of businesses in the area, mentioning the CI COOP, for not attending the meeting saying they had "forfeited their rights" by not coming along. 

Every speaker at the meeting warned that further accidents would happen, and most described 'near-misses' involving children, including one just before the meeting. 

Campaigner Nicola McAteer was one of the main speakers, she has launched a petition to gather support for action, which has so far gained more than 3,300 signatures. You can view the petition here:

"I've said from the outset that we need immediate action, the signs that have been put up, people are not adhering to them, there have been so many occasions when I've actually been there and cars have sped by, I've managed to speak to the individuals and they are very apologetic afterwards, and their employers are very apologetic. It's apparent that they have been using them as shortcuts, but we need to ensure that they don't use them as shortcuts, and we need to ensure the change is immediate. We cannot have any other fatalities in St Helier, and this should never have happened."

Clinton was on holiday in Jersey when the tragic accident happened. His funeral took place a couple of week's ago in Glasgow, and floral tributes included the three-year-old’s favourites such as Paw Patrol, Peter Pan and Thomas the train, with others spelling out his name and his favourite saying “wee hug.”

The following day Celtic supporters also paid tribute to Clinton - whose organs including his heart were donated - during the Glasgow team’s match against Leicester City at Parkhead when they unveiled a giant banner (pictured below) picturing him with his dad along with a message banner which read: “Clinton the bravest little lion with the biggest heart.”

A 38-year-old woman was arrested in connection with road traffic offences and has not been charged.