Speed and other Highways Issues in the village

Highways Update

A reminder that the Parish Council is a local, unpaid, tier of government.  We do not have jurisdiction over the public highways.  We represent the community’s view to the County Council who manage the roads, pavements and street signs.  Ultimately it is the County Council who decide where and how resources are spent on public highways.  To this end we continue to meet with the Highways dept and campaign for, as well as provide financial support for, speed and road safety measures with a particular focus on Gloucester Rd.  It should also be noted that Paul Hodgkinson has also consistently provided his support, both vocally and financially, to these schemes.

It is our intention to pursue 4 lines of action simultaneously to tackle high speeds on Gloucester Rd.  These target different types of drivers and come with pro’s and con’s, below is summary of the latest on each topic.

1) Increase village appeal.  This has been shown to have a big impact on driver’s perception of how fast it is appropriate to drive through a village and has the benefit of being relatively quick to implement, often with minimal input from the County Council.

– The highways department have granted us permission to install ‘welcome to Andoversford’ white gates at the 3 entrances to the Village (either end of Gloucester Rd and the A40-Station Rd junction), along with a reminder of the speed limit.  These have been costed and we’re waiting for final approval for the supplier.  Once installed, these will also be combined with planters to make them more eye catching.

– The Highways Council have committed to re-painting the lines throughout the village to make them more prominent, plus some additional ones indicating road narrowing.  Resurfacing of Gloucester Rd must be complete first, which they have committed to this financial year.

– We are exploring options to add temporary posters down Gloucester Rd to highlight the issue.  Any feedback or volunteering in this matter would be appreciated.

– Despite the Parish Council gaining approval from the local constabulary and offering to fully finance and operate cameras on Gloucester Rd, Gloucestershire Highways Department now do not support the installation of any camera’s within the County.  We continue to campaign against this, but until this rule is overturned we are sadly unable to install fixed cameras.

– The community speedwatch group continues to do a brilliant job of routinely catching speeders, including a full day of non-stop surveillance recently.  This resulted in speeds of up to 44mph, including some cars which were caught more than once on the same day.  If you could spare an hour every so often to be part of this, please get in touch.

– The Parish Council, and Paul Hodgkinson, had ring fenced money to support the installation of a table top speed barrier.  However after a decade of delays by the County Council with no end in sight, both parties agreed to reinvest the funds to other more actionable schemes.  This will continue to be reviewed and the survey and plans for installation can still be used if the County Council changes it’s stance on traffic management in this area.

– Andoversford Parish Council has successfully applied to reduce the speed limit on Gloucester Rd to 20 mph.  This will not come into force for 2 years though.

– After many discussions with the County Council, we have had confirmation they will be patching the service trenches along Station Rd which have dropped.  Line painting has taken place at the end of Hunters Way/Station Road

– The Parish Council has two vacant seats currently, so if you would like to be involved more actively in this topic please get in touch.  If you have any ideas or wish to get involved in any way, please do contact us at clerk@andoversfordparish.gov.uk