Wednesday, May 14, 2008
At Long Last A Meeting About Bradley's Traffic Problems
I was pleased to hear that Bradley Parish Council have finally managed to get an officer from the County Council’s Highways Department to visit the Village.
From what was said at Mondays Parish Council meeting the visit was very positive with the officer going away to look at various improvements to traffic signs and marking. When I was County Councillor for the Village four years ago I started the process of getting the Council to look at traffic problems in the Village. John Wakefield, the then Cabinet Member responsible for roads, meet with me and Ron Hilton – who incidentally is now the Council’s Chief Executive – to look at what could be done. They agreed to carryout a full review and present their finding to the Parish. Unfortunately a few weeks later I lost my seat and since then nothing has happened with the proposal. So four years later the fact that someone from the Highways Department has come to look at the problem is really worth mentioning!
However finding a solution will not be easy. It’s clear heavy vehicles, following their Sat Navs are cutting through Bradley from the A418 to the A449. These are not only causing damage to the narrow lanes and verges but are also proving a real danger. It’s also noticeable that more and more traffic is travelling far to fast and I sure it’s only a matter of time before there is a fatality. Perhaps then the County Council will take the problems the Village is facing seriously, but until then the residents of Bradley will just have to accept new signs and road markings.
At the very least they could look at taking positive action to stop the heavy vehicles using this "rat run" either by installing and getting the police to enforce a weight restriction, or by lobbying to get the route removed from Sat Nav information!
If, after four years, all they can do is come and look at the situation once again I'm not holding my breath that anything major will be done just yet!
From what was said at Mondays Parish Council meeting the visit was very positive with the officer going away to look at various improvements to traffic signs and marking. When I was County Councillor for the Village four years ago I started the process of getting the Council to look at traffic problems in the Village. John Wakefield, the then Cabinet Member responsible for roads, meet with me and Ron Hilton – who incidentally is now the Council’s Chief Executive – to look at what could be done. They agreed to carryout a full review and present their finding to the Parish. Unfortunately a few weeks later I lost my seat and since then nothing has happened with the proposal. So four years later the fact that someone from the Highways Department has come to look at the problem is really worth mentioning!
However finding a solution will not be easy. It’s clear heavy vehicles, following their Sat Navs are cutting through Bradley from the A418 to the A449. These are not only causing damage to the narrow lanes and verges but are also proving a real danger. It’s also noticeable that more and more traffic is travelling far to fast and I sure it’s only a matter of time before there is a fatality. Perhaps then the County Council will take the problems the Village is facing seriously, but until then the residents of Bradley will just have to accept new signs and road markings.
At the very least they could look at taking positive action to stop the heavy vehicles using this "rat run" either by installing and getting the police to enforce a weight restriction, or by lobbying to get the route removed from Sat Nav information!
If, after four years, all they can do is come and look at the situation once again I'm not holding my breath that anything major will be done just yet!
# posted by Barry Stamp @ 3:39 AM 
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