14
www.stokegiffordjournal.co.uk
October 2019
News
Councillor Column Parking blight and bridge safety in focus
P
arkway Railway Station has rapidly grown in importance in recent years. Once secondary in importance to Bristol Temple Meads, Parkway has now grown into a major transport hub for the region, and as a result is visited by large numbers of buses and taxis every day. Whilst that in the long term is beneficial to the economy of the Greater Stokes area, it does bring significant problems to the immediate village of Stoke Gifford itself. Probably the most obvious is the parking blight that has grown dramatically in recent years. There is little doubt that it will worsen as Parkway continues to grow and your three district councillors and the parish council are determined to do something about it. Earlier this year, we gained the support of South Gloucestershire Council to commence a village-wide inquiry into the parking problems that we are suffering. The inquiry has taken much longer than we were anticipating and has now grown to include additional area such as Bakers Ground and Parkway North. As a result of the delay, we have submitted an urgent request to South Gloucestershire to address immediately the common problem of cars being parked at or on road junctions. This practice, warned against in the Highway Code, has now become widespread, and it is causing great danger to other road users. In last month’s column I raised my deep concern about the danger to hundreds of pedestrians passing under the Parkway railway bridge on narrow footpaths every day on their way to work or to school. Since I wrote that article there has been another bus strike of the bridge (see page 10). This follows a serious incident in
t: 01454 300 400
Council abandons plans for raised table zebra crossings on North Road New consultation launched on proposed 20mph zone
November 2018 in which the entire top deck of a doubledecker bus was sliced off, landing on one of the footways, Luckily, no one was injured – that time! In another incident, a young female pedestrian was struck by a cyclist and fell into the road causing a car to swerve to avoid her. This simply cannot continue and we have requested both South Gloucestershire Council and the West of England mayor Tim Bowles to resurrect earlier plans to construct a dedicated second tunnel through the embankment for pedestrians and cyclists only. We live in one of the nicest villages in the whole of South Gloucestershire, but sadly we still suffer from increasing amounts of criminal damage (otherwise known as graffiti). The best way of combating this wanton vandalism is to catch and prosecute offenders, and we have requested the police to be more active in that way. The parish council is seeking to invest in high pressure spray devices to remove the damage to property. Cllr Brian Allinson Stoke Gifford parish councillor and South Gloucestershire councillor for Stoke Gifford ward Write to your politicians, national or local, for free. Visit writetothem.com
S
outh Glos Council (SGC) has abandoned plans to install raised tables at two existing zebra crossings on North Road, despite a majority of consultation respondents saying they agreed with the proposals. The traffic-calming measures had been put forward for the crossing located near the St Michael’s Centre (by The Green) and a second further up the road near the Trust Rooms. According to the statement of reasons published as part of a public consultation which ran for three weeks from 17th June 2019, the proposed measures were being made in response to “concerns that had been raised by members of the public and the local councillor”. The stated purpose was to “reduce traffic speeds on the approach to the crossings … and reduce the number of incidents where drivers fail to give way at the crossings”. A recently published feedback report shows that, of the 64 individuals and organisations who responded to the consultation, 36 (56 percent) expressed overall support for the scheme. However, the report also shows that the proposals lacked support from two local councillors, with Cllr Ernie Brown commenting
that “recorded speed levels certainly do not warrant traffic calming” and Cllr Brian Allinson saying he was “rapidly coming to the conclusion that a 20mph limit is required”. A response from Stoke Gifford Parish Council claimed the proposed measures would have little impact on reducing speed generally along North Road and asked if alternative measures such as flashing signs could be used. Following a meeting between council officers, local ward members and the parish council, SGC decided not to proceed with the raised tables and it has now launched a new public consultation on a proposed ‘sign only’ 20mph speed limit on North Road and the surrounding cul-de-sacs. Justifying the change of approach, officers said: “Current average speed readings support the installation of a 20mph speed limit without the need for physical traffic calming, which would significantly reduce the cost and disruption of the scheme.” Consultation on the 20mph speed limit proposals runs until 14th October. For further details, visit www.southglos.gov.uk/ consultation or phone 01454 864215 to receive paper copies of the consultation material.
To advertise in this magazine or on our websites, phone The Journal’s sales team on 01454 300 400