Proposed 20mph zone (Debate)

Wed 21 Aug 2019, 19:23 (last edited on Wed 21 Aug 2019, 19:38)

Department for Transport rules do not allow 20mph limits to be applied to B roads like the Slade which currently have a high traffic count (AADT) and high average speeds, without installing physical traffic calming.

The 20mph limit proposed for the town centre will be funded by the Town Council and by a developer contribution. This will cover signs and the legal paperwork (a Traffic Regulation Order) at a total cost of £5,000ish.

No-one disagrees that action is needed to tackle traffic speeds on the Slade and Woodstock Road. The DfT rules mean that this will have to include physical traffic calming. Even the simplest form of this (one set of speed bumps) starts at £20,000; a full solution for both the Slade and Woodstock Road area would almost certainly run into six figures. Last time the Town Council made a funding commitment of that magnitude (the Football & Sports Club and the Community Centre), we needed a town referendum to get approval for a public loan, so it's not a simple process.

The design also needs to be considered thoughtfully - the experience of the last set of speed bumps (on Nine Acres Lane) was that a lot of traffic diverted along the narrow town centre streets to avoid them. I lived next to the bumps at the time and remember one speeding car that was so untroubled by them so much that it missed the bend and tore straight over our drive!

It clearly isn't true that people who live east of the Slade "won't benefit at all". Ditchley Road and the Green will be included in the limit, together with the adjoining stretch of the Slade. The whole point of including the Enstone Road crossroads and approaches - which the Town Council has pushed for despite it not being strictly within the DfT rules - is to make it safer for residents of the Green, Hundley Way, Ticknell Piece, Ditchley Road and adjoining roads to cross at this location. And, of course, safer roads in the town centre will benefit everyone who shops or uses facilities there, no matter where they live.

David, I hope you will consider standing for election to the Town Council next year so that you can put your considerable energies behind getting a programme of works on the Slade and Woodstock Road designed and funded.