12th December 2006
Mr Mark Cole
Traffic Services Manager
Highways and Transport
West Berkshire Council
Faraday Road
Newbury
Dear
Traffic Management - Beech Hill
Thank you for your letter of November 17th which has been the subject of the Parish Council’s attention.
Sadly, it seems that the Highways and Transport Department at West Berkshire Council is almost in denial that Beech Hill may have a problem with speeding transport or justifiable concerns about the mix and size of vehicles using nearby roads. Your letter sets out to justify expenditure which has been made elsewhere (which we understand but do not necessarily agree with). Neither it, nor Neil Stacey’s letter of 18th September make any direct reference to the Parish Council’s concerns or observations, rather we have paragraphs of rhetoric which lead us nowhere.
Beech Hill Parish Council, and the residents of the village as a whole , is seriously concerned at the speeds of vehicles transiting the village. Your own evidence from two surveys ten years apart, tells us that in this period traffic levels through the village have doubled and speeds increased noticeably. This is an unsustainable situation.
Your department’s response to this is to repeat constantly that as the village has a good safety record it is worth only a low priority for physical traffic
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calming. To wait for a serious accident before taking any action is unacceptable, a view shared by the House of Commons Transport Select Committee whose Chairman is reported as saying recently, “The relationship between speed and collisions is so well proven that the casualty requirement is unnecessary and even irresponsible. Evidence of excessive speed is evidence of danger and there is no need to wait for someone to die in order to take action intended to slow vehicles”.
Since beginning this letter, we have heard from Andrew Garratt that the village is not to be included in the current scheme for providing Vehicle Activated Signs. Once again, it seems that recorded injury accidents are the benchmark for measuring the need for this equipment. One can only refer you to the previous paragraph and remind you that this council has registered concerns about speeding traffic over more than ten years. Not good enough.
Cost also comes into your reasoning for denying the need for positive action. We understand fully the need to have budgets and to keep within these. We consider though, as we have said before, that if money can be found to create a ‘Vibrant town centre’ in Newbury in preference to a road safety issue, the priorities are somewhat skewed. Additionally of course, we could point out that part of your budget comes from the residents and businesses of Beech Hill. It is seldom that any serious money finds its way to the village/parish highways which in turn suggests that over the years our contribution has been happily supporting others. We understand that this is the way the system works, but, perhaps its now Beech Hill’s turn to receive some support from other parishes and towns.
Due to your department’s intransigence in not acknowledging that the Parish Council’s concerns have substance, and therefore require action, we have no option but to put on record our view that if/when a serious accident occurs in Beech Hill, a substantial part of the responsibility will rest with WBC Highways and Transport Department.
Our second concern is the traffic on the roads outside the village, between Beech Hill and Mortimer and Beech Hill and Spencers Wood.
This is another problem which is ongoing and which should be apparent to anyone who uses this particular road. These roads, most particularly that from Mortimer Station to Beech Hill, are patently not suited to the mix and volume of traffic which they currently carry, not least because this includes both pedestrians, cyclists and HGVs. We attach a summary of accidents which have occurred on this stretch of highway in recent months and stress that these are only the ones of which we are aware. We recommend that If the Transport Strategy team is working on identifying a freight routing network, this road should be eliminated from any considerations.
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In conclusion, this exchange of letters with Highways and Transport appears to be making little headway in meeting the requirements of this Parish Council to create a safe highway system in Beech Hill. We suggest therefore that it be brought as an issue to the relevant committee of West Berks Councillors to put the problem before a fresh group of minds. At this point, we intend to copy all of the relevant paperwork to Richard Benyon MP and Rt Hon John Redwood whose interests cover Beech Hill and West Berkshire.
Yours sincerely
D Barr Miller
Chairman - Beech Hill Parish Council
c.c. Nick Carter
Mark Edwards
Andrew Garratt
Neil Stacey
Councillor Keith Lock
Councillor KEITH chopping
Richard Benyon M P
Rt Hon John Redwood