Egham High Street’s electric rising bollars have not worked for several weeks now. The bollards were installed in March 2017 by Surrey County Council (SCC) in order to prevent drivers from entering the street between Monday to Saturday from 11am to 4pm. The High Street is therefore a pedestrianised zone during these times.
In recent weeks, the bollards have not been working and many cars have been driving and parking on the street during the day. While there are signs at the entrance to the High Street stating that it is a pedestrian-only area, many drivers are ignoring this and driving up and down the street anyway.
According to Get Surrey, Egham resident Anthony Houlden has “reported this porblem numerous times to Runnymede Borough Council (RBC) and SCC” but the issue has persisted.
Houlden also stated that he has seen “four engineers… trying to get them working” but the bollards have not been fixed yet.
According to RBC, the bollards fall under the purview of SCC. An SCC spokesman said: “We’re aware of the problem and we’re working to get it fixed as soon as possible.”
The automatic bollards are believed to have costed “thousands of pounds” and residents are disappointed that they have been out of use for such a long period of time.
Students and residents alike have mentioned that they are not happy with the traffic that comes through the High Street now that the bollards are not working, as it makes it more difficult to get around.
Houlden operates a mobility scooter and finds that the traffic makes the road more inaccessible than ever before.
Prior to March 2017, access to the High Street was controlled by a gate that was manually operated every day between restricted times. Houlden has asked for a return to this manual system until the council can fix the bollards.