Police found 12.6% of drivers speeding on St Barnabas Road, Sutton, under the 15% bar for action. A 91-name crossing petition goes to councillors on 8 October.
Residents asking for a zebra crossing on St Barnabas Road in Sutton will get a feasibility study, but no promise of a crossing. A police speed check found too few drivers speeding to trigger further action.
A petition signed by 91 residents goes to Sutton Council’s Environment and Sustainable Transport Committee on Thursday 8 October at 7pm. Officers recommend that the council notes it and investigates whether a crossing is feasible. (Committee agenda)
What residents are asking for
The petition asks for a zebra crossing between Upper Vernon Road and Carshalton Road, at or near the Upper Vernon Road junction. It closed on 4 August 2026.
It says the road:
- is used every day by hundreds of pedestrians, including children walking to and from Manor Park Primary Academy
- serves Whizz Kidz Nurseries at the Vernon Road junction and parishioners of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary
- has no safe, designated crossing point on that stretch
- is “widely known locally as a rat run for speeding vehicles”
The petition says Manor Park Primary Academy and the church both support it. (Full petition wording)
What the speed checks found
Residents first raised the concerns with council officers in March 2026. Officers then asked TfL and the Policing Partnerships Unit to monitor speeds.
The team visited in April and May 2026. It ran checks for just over eight hours across three weeks. The findings were:
- 2,441 vehicles passed during the checks
- 308 were caught breaking the speed limit
- that is a non-compliance rate of 12.6%
The road has had a 20mph limit “for a number of years”, the council says.
Under National Police Chiefs’ Council guidance, a road needs 15% non-compliance before further action is taken. St Barnabas Road fell “just below the threshold”. It will stay on the list for future monitoring. (Officers’ report on the petition)
Collisions
The petition cites official records of four injury collisions in five years, two of them involving pedestrians.
The council’s report says ward councillors were told that two of the collisions recorded at the junction involved slight injury to pedestrians. It adds that the records “do not clarify the details”. The council holds no recent speed or traffic volume surveys of its own for the road.
The catch: parking
Officers have made an initial review of where a crossing could go. They found that existing permit parking bays would have to be removed.
Any investigation will look at moving those bays elsewhere to keep the loss of parking down. The report says a study must weigh the crossing against “the impact that this may have on other choices for residents in the area”.
When a crossing could come
Not this financial year. The council’s 2026/27 programme of highway improvements, funded by TfL, was approved in October 2025. It does not include St Barnabas Road, and it favours road safety schemes at places with high collision rates.
The 2027/28 programme is being drawn up now. The request for a crossing or traffic calming between Vernon Road and Carshalton Road has been added to the list for that round.
The feasibility work will be paid for from the council’s current TfL allocation. Any crossing that came out of it would need a separate bid for TfL money.
What it means for you
- No crossing is approved yet. The committee is being asked to note the petition and agree a feasibility study. The findings go back to the lead petitioner.
- The earliest realistic date is the 2027/28 programme, if the study supports a crossing and TfL funds the bid.
- Parking may change. If a crossing goes ahead, some permit bays near the site would be removed and possibly moved.
- The road is still being watched. The speed check team says St Barnabas Road stays on its list for future monitoring.
- You can attend. The committee meets at 7pm on Thursday 8 October at the Civic Offices, St Nicholas Way. The agenda page carries the attendance details.
More on getting around: our Sutton roadworks and travel page and parking in Sutton.
We will update this page with the committee’s decision.
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