Earlier this year Dave and Pat Hockey raised concerns with officers when plans for the scheme arrived out of the blue, with the implication that it was already decided and going ahead. Dave and Pat made it clear that it would be totally inappropriate for it to go ahead without full consultation. Any plans also needed to be compatible with a traffic calming scheme for Church Road that had been investigated by another officer and was on the list for funding in the future.
However, without any warning or any assurances that the two schemes were compatible, the lining scheme went ahead this week. Pat went down on Thursday to see the problem for herself and talk to the residents affected. An officer has now apologised saying:
...our consultation framework shows that for minor signing and lining schemes of this nature, at the very least, information letters should be sent to frontagers 2 weeks before the works are carried out. Therefore I agree that the consultation that was carried out falls short of our own standards and I can only apologise for this error.
The officer goes on to explain:
The scheme involves offsetting the centreline by installing a cycle lane in order to take out the straight line that tends to encourage speeding. It also includes installation of a vehicle activated speedvisor sign and removal of the illegal 30mph roundels that had been painted onto the surface of the road. Other elements include 3 junction warning signs, 2 direction signs and installation of 2 bus stop markings.
We can assure local people that:
- there are no plans to raise the speed limit on Church Road
- although the 13T structural weight limit on the bridge will be removed when its replacement is in place, the 7.5T environmental weight limit on the whole of Church Road will remain in place
- this is a "signing and lining" scheme, not the full traffic calming scheme that is still awaiting funding - there will be a full consultation on that when it is funded
The officer has now agreed to send a letter of apology to residents and seek their retrospective views on the scheme.
Its like you read my mind! You seem to know
ReplyDeleteso much about this, such as you wrote the book in
it or something. I feel that you simply could do with some % to pressure the message home a bit, but instead of that, this is magnificent blog.
A fantastic read. I will certainly be back.
Here is my page; Cellulite Diet Mayo Clinic