Meeting on the 24th February 2010
South Guildford Roads Group which comprises representatives from Castle Hill, South Hill, Chantry View Road, Pilgrims Way and Warwicks Bench are holding a meeting with Mark Brett-Warburton and Surrey County Council's Highways Department to discuss possible traffic calming and improved traffic circulation in our area. This includes looking at 'rat runs'. HTAG will also be represented at this meeting. The Agenda is shown below and if HTAG residents have any related issues they would like to raise, could they please e-mail David Ellis in good time before the meeting on 24th February. His e-mail address is ellis.david@talktalk.net.
Draft Agenda for meeting with SCC Highways and CC MBW
Background
The roads in the area south of the High Street between the Epsom Road (A246) and the Shalford Road (A281) were originally built primarily to serve residential properties but are also used as part of the wider transport network. Measures have been introduced over time to manage traffic movements and particularly to control the speed of traffic but many residents feel that their amenity and safety is diminishing and that traffic through the area is increasing. Most of this concern relates to the "rat run(s)" between the Epsom Road and the Shalford road and roads which link directly from them and has been exacerbated recently by the closure of Castle Arch which has redirected traffic elsewhere and led to rumours circulating about SCC's future intentions.
We recognise that SCC is operating under considerable financial constraints and also that measures introduced or removed in one part of the network can impact on residents nearby. We are also concerned to ensure that measures introduced enhance the street scene and our local amenity as well as responding to traffic safety needs. With this in mind we would like to have a constructive dialogue with SCC looking at the area as a whole and facilitated by our County Councillor. In particular we would like to understand whether there are any current plans for changes to the road network and develop a partnership approach, which encourages ideas to be exchanged, alternatives to be explored and guarantees early consultation on proposals. We would also like to discuss how the maintenance regime operates and whether it needs to be improved.
Those attending this meeting have no mandate to agree any particular proposal but would expect to report back (by means of a written note of the meeting confirmed by SCC in advance) to neighbours on what we learn, in the expectation that proposals coming forward over time would be the subject of effective consultation. We hope also to agree arrangements to maintain continuing contact over time, which will enable residents to feel better informed and make it easier for SCC to respond to or consult on issues arising in future.
Agenda - introductions and roads represented
1. To identify more precisely the area under discussion and the roads affected including the part they play in the traffic network and the potential for traffic movements to change in the future as a result of wider area proposals, for example the opening of the Hindhead Tunnel. It would be helpful if SCC could bring a map of the local area at a suitable scale. It would also be helpful to identify any current or proposed traffic movement surveys affecting the area, whether any new ones are needed and where such information can be accessed.
2. To understand any current plans for maintenance and improvement works in the area, any funding available currently and the potential for investment in designing improvement schemes to be "on the shelf" when funding becomes available. There is particular interest and concern at present about:
- Plans affecting Castle Hill directly
- Rumours of plans to remove road humps from Warwicks Bench where prior to their introduction serious accident were common and where removal would be likely to lead to further significant diversions through the are from the heavily trafficked Shalford Road
3. To discuss the current maintenance regime which impacts on highway safety, in particular:
- The effect of traffic movements on roads designed for residential purposes
- Resurfacing, maintenance / reconstruction of road humps some of which appear to be below standard, potholes, condition of some footpaths (including kerbstones, deterioration in support at rear of some footpaths), permanently blocked highway gullies and salting
- Inspection and response regime
4. Particular safety hazards identified by residents and options for improvement
- Speed and style of driving of "rat runners" - there is considerable interest locally in a 20mph speed limit but we would like to understand the range of traffic management techniques available and SCC's attitude to them for example - further or more effective use of humps / platforms, road narrowing and prioritisation, visual "psychological" effects, planting, pedestrian friendly surfacing, enforcement of restrictions on heavy vehicle movements.
- Known traffic hazards - at right angle bends, particularly those approached on gradients (near Fort Road Abbots Road where there has been a recent serious incident, outside Crown Heights and where Echo Pit meets Warwicks Bench); inadequate sight lines (emerging from Chantry View Road onto Shalford Road and Chantry View Road onto Echo Pit Road); cars unable to stop in wet weather at junction of Pewley Hill and South Hill; progress on implementing passing places to alleviate problems caused by weekend parking on both sides of South Hill
- Pedestrian safety - crossings and kerbs
5. Future liaison and consultation arrangements
