Southsea Rainbow Corner nursery owner welcomes plans for more safety measures to stop cars crashing into wall

Lucy Whitehead said Portsmouth City Council plans, which include raising the zebra crossing and installing speed cushions on Victoria Road North near Rainbow Corner nursery, would help tackle the issue which, she said, had cause the business 'months of disruption and inconvenience'.

'The latest accident in November 2021 again caused considerable damage to our perimeter wall and the work to repair it is only just coming to completion,' she said.

'Not only have these accidents, which I'm at no fault for, resulted in increased insurance premiums but it's also received a lot of negative media coverage which has damaged the reputation of the nursery.'

She said she believed the latest proposals would resolve the problem.

Measures including bollards, resurfacing and new signs were taken last year in an initial attempt to reduce the number of crashes on that stretch of road. This cost about £40,000 but more needs to be done.

City council cabinet member for transport Lynne Stagg said these had helped limit damage to the nursery wall but further work was needed.

Cllr Stagg approved the principle of this at her Thursday decision-making meeting although final details have yet to be agreed by the council which has identified the road as a 'priority' for improvements.

'This is very sensible and not before time, and I don't mean that to be critical,' she said. 'It has taken a long time but [council] officers have just been very careful to make sure that the right things are being done. You don't go in with a hammer to crack a nut.

'All of these recommendations are really good.'

A consultation and road safety audit will now take place to finalise details of measures recommended to be taken in the area with a detailed plan then produced and given to council contractors to complete.

Rainbow Corner was named Nursery of the Year in a competition run by The News and voted on by readers in 2019.