Councillors will provide an update on community issues and progress on Area Board working groups. This will include:
a) Skate Board Park working group – Councillor Marshall
b) Cycle Network working group – Councillor Berry
c) Curzon Street congestion issue – Councillor Hill
d) Hilmarton A3102 and Derry Hill A4 issues – response from Highways Officers to the community discussion held at the Calne Area Board meeting on 27 April 2010 at Hilmarton Community Hall.
Minutes:
Councillors provided an update on community issues and progress on Calne Area Board working groups.
a) Councillor Marshall had been involved in several meetings regarding the skate board park working group. The group had visited skate parks in Salisbury and Trowbridge and had been particularly impressed with the Trowbridge site. A local company were looking into the problem of paint on the current skate bowl.
b) Councillor Berry and the cycle network working group had been working on establishing key routes for cyclists on maps and good places for shared cycle paths with the general agreement of users. This was hoped for on the A3102 too.
c) Councillor Hill expressed his hope that the Curzon Street congestion issue would be considered by the new Local Transport Plan working group. The best option appeared to be diverting traffic away from the area using signage and a review of signage was taking place. Councillor Tonge explained that £15,000 was available to the Area Board for small highways projects. He emphasised that the highways budget was limited and had recently been reduced. The department had a list of 600 projects in Wiltshire to be completed and funding available for approximately 60 of these projects. The Local Transport Plan scheme would work to prioritise highways projects in the Community Area.
d) Highways Officers responded to the community discussion held at the Calne Area Board meeting on 27 April 2010 regarding the A3102 at Hilmarton and the A4 at Derry Hill. Martin Cook, Area Highways Engineer, stated that using the highways prioritising system, Studley Crossroads was deemed to be a low priority. There had been no major incident since changes were made to the crossroads approximately four years ago. The Chairman had received the following comment via the Community Area Network from a local person who was unable to attend the meeting: “I believe the road has become safer since the road changes were made as part of the Bowood housing development, the islands have certainly made the road much safer to cross and the turnings into Derry Hill and Studley have been significantly improved. My main issue is with the speed of the vehicles, and would like to see a reduction in the speed to say 40mph 100 yards or so before and after the new pedestrian crossing islands. This not only benefits pedestrians (who are often forgotten about when discussing road safety at such cross roads), but also a lower speed limit would help to reduce accidents.” A resident from Derry Hill expressed concerns about crossing the road at Studley crossroads and the pedestrian island. Mr Broadhead asked Councillor Tonge about the cost of the speed limit review report and the number of speed limits recommended to be reduced in the report.
Decision
The cost of the speed limit review report and the number of speed limits recommended to be reduced in the report would be reported back to Mr Broadhead by Councillor Tonge.
In Hilmarton there was scope for a traffic island outside the Duke Hotel. Unfortunately this would have to compete on the list of 600 projects in Wiltshire to do. The need for traffic lights on the A3102 was also commented on.
Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Highways and Transport matters, was present and responded to the petition presented to the Area Board in April regarding the traffic congestion in Curzon Street, Calne. He stated that £1.2million had been taken away from this year’s highways budget by central Government and that the budget for the next few years would be reduced as well. Consequently, some projects that had already been agreed would not go ahead and there were no funds available to take on new projects anywhere in the county. However, he suggested that the highways department would need to know when funding did start to increase what the priorities across the county were in terms of highways projects. Councillor Tonge suggested that Calne Area Board should ask our Highways Working Group to investigate the highways related issues in our area and prioritise them so that the department would be able to assess the relative importance of each problem to the local people. This the Board resolved to do.