Would you buy a house with a pedestrian crossing outside?

cantswimwontswim

Thank you all for your comments. It does look as though this will now be hard to sell. I have plantation blinds which should help with the noise but we shall see. It's not a busy road and I was surprised to find the crossing going up. I moved here some years ago from a very busy, noisy town which I loved, but the constant infilling of new homes mostly blocks of flats ruined it and the traffic became a nightmare. Off to buy some hedges now , thank you all again.

ic

Living on a main road that is so busy it needs pedestrian crossings would be a red flag to me.  Having recently moved from a busy road to a side street, I'm relieved!

My council has put in temporary crossings and other features due to covid.  Their due to be removed in the coming months, as they put in permanent alternatives - which were fully consulted.

rexmedorum

Letting Agent? Aah that does make a difference as it's much easier to move again if you hate it. Also do you have any other realistic options? If not I certainly wouldn't let a crossing stop you from renting the place.

Section62

cantswimwontswim said:

it's just the actual siting that has got to me and I daresay if I have been aware at the planning stage they might have agreed to site it those few feet away instead of so close outside my window, small front garden. Plus it narrows an already narrow footpath.

They weren't required to consult you directly, but there is a requirement* for the Traffic Authority to publish a public notice before establishing a new controlled pedestrian crossing (Zebra, Pelican, Puffin, Toucan, etc etc) which would have been the opportunity you had to become aware of the proposal at the planning stage and make representations. (*Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 Section 23(b)  https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/27/section/23  )

It would be good practice for the Traffic Authority to write to the directly affected residents and/or businesses to make them aware of the notice in case there was something about the positioning or design that caused a fundamental problem.

If this had happened to me I'd be asking the council for a copy of the notice, and details of where it was displayed/published and for how long, as well as information about their policy on notifying affected properties. Depending on the response, I might consider making a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman, as the decision to site the crossing where it is has had a direct impact on you and potentially on the value of your property.

cantswimwontswim said:

Hi. Not in use yet, but I am noise sensitive (Result of a neurological problem) which causes stress and that triggers Tinnitus. The person to whom I spoke said they can turn the sound down.

.....

Their research suggests I will only hear beeping/engine noise during the rush hour period and probably nothing after 7 or 8pm.

You might want to ask the engineer how the traffic signal controller they have used has been set up to cope with infrequent use.

Sometimes (for safety reasons) they can be set up so if the push buttons haven't been used for a certain period of time, the controller will assume the button unit(s) have failed and fall into a 'safe mode' where the crossing will automatically change to give pedestrians priority every 'x' minutes - if that's what they have done here, and the safety system is triggered, then for you this would mean getting the 'bleeping' sound every 'x' minutes until one of the council's engineers checks the site and resets the controller.

If the crossing isn't going to be used very much (especially relevant in cases where there's not much traffic and people can easily cross without pushing the buttons) then this can be a real problem.  But in this situation the Traffic Authority should be able to make an assessment that having a 'safe mode' enabled is not necessary and/or disable the 'beep' in certain situations.

MSE_Laura_F

Realise I'm probably in the minority, but I live on a busy crossroads with a Tesco Express opposite, and I love it for the people watching. There's always something going on. I think my brain just tunes out the noise because I grew up in noisy London towns. Can definitely appreciate it's not for everyone though.

lookstraightahead

MSE_Laura_F said:

Realise I'm probably in the minority, but I live on a busy crossroads with a Tesco Express opposite, and I love it for the people watching. There's always something going on. I think my brain just tunes out the noise because I grew up in noisy London towns. Can definitely appreciate it's not for everyone though.

I understand. I live rurally now and hate car noise, but I also loved the vibe of living in a big city and people watching.  

Section62

MSE_Laura_F said:

Realise I'm probably in the minority, but I live on a busy crossroads with a Tesco Express opposite, and I love it for the people watching. There's always something going on. I think my brain just tunes out the noise because I grew up in noisy London towns. Can definitely appreciate it's not for everyone though.

You aren't alone - people handle road/rail/aircraft noise differently, and on the whole can adapt quite quickly to doing what you describe (tuning the noise out). So much so that the unexpected absence of the noise becomes more noticable than the noise itself (e.g. if the traffic stops because of an accident or engineering work).

Some people are less able to adapt though, often for medical reasons, and for them it can be a real problem.

sheramber

 5 or 10 feet away from the house and it would not have caused any problem.

Would that be outside somebody else's house?

pinkshoes

It would certainly put some people off.

A friend of mine rented a house that had a pedestrian crossing right outside. She didn't think anything of it until a friday/saturday night when people were walking home from the pub at 11.30pm, pressed the button to cross and BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.... it drove her crazy.

Not to mention the cars who stop at the crossing and beep their horns to the dozy people who forget to move again once the lights turn back to green!

Once you hear the BEEP BEEP BEEP you can't unhear! 

Section62

sheramber said:

 5 or 10 feet away from the house and it would not have caused any problem.

Would that be outside somebody else's house?

From what the OP describes I think they mean that the signal head would then be adjacent to the wall of the house, not their bedroom window.

TBH that's the kind of thing that traffic signal/lighting engineers are supposed to take into account - i.e. where possible to place light sources away from windows - and is one of the reasons why it would be good practice for the council to be proactive in notifying/consulting residents before making changes like this.

Now the crossing has been installed it would be prohibitively expensive to move a signal head by a few feet, but that alteration could (possibly) have been made at the design stage at zero cost.