Agenda item

Forward Plan Ref: 2020/131

Contact: Hugh Potter, Group Manager – Area Operations Hub Tel: 07766 998704/Ryan Moore, Senior Engineer (Road Agreement Team) Tel: 07557 082568

Report by Director for Community Operations (Interim) (CMDE8).

The report presents responses received to a statutory consultation to introduce traffic calming measures and a 20mph speed limit on Brasenose Road and Slade Road put forward as part of the approved residential development at Great Western Park and, if approved, funded by developers.

The Cabinet Member for Environment is RECOMMENDED to approve the proposed 20mph speed limit and traffic calming measures in Brasenose Road and Slade Road as advertised.

The Cabinet Member for Environment considered (CMDE8) responses received to a statutory consultation to introduce traffic calming measures and a 20mph speed limit on Brasenose Road and Slade Road put forward as part of the approved residential development at Great Western Park and, if approved, funded by developers.

Sean Wilde spoke against the proposed traffic calming cushions located outside his property in Slade Road and urged consideration of alternative measures. Access to the property was already a dangerous manoeuvre due to current traffic, parked cars and pedestrians etc when trying to reverse onto/off our drive and virtually impossible due to lack of visibility. They currently often had to wait on the road to ensure all on-coming vehicles had passed and pedestrians had cleared their driveway before attempting access. Speed cushions would add further difficulty/complications to an already risky manoeuvre. He referred to increased noise which he had observed at a friend’s property due to cars having to brake/accelerate when navigating the cushions and other obstructions e.g. parked cars and similarly increased pollution from vehicles waiting/queuing to pass one another outside their property. He also had safety concerns as the length of the cushions at 3.7m were fairly long meaning drivers had to line-up to traverse over them, so for vehicles travelling in opposite directions they would tend to try and traverse over the cushions by avoiding them, meaning that drivers/vehicles would be forced towards the centre of the road, thus potentially heading towards one another. There would be issues for visitor parking as the cushions would be positioned directly outside his house and therefore not  visible by other drivers with cars parked on them.  He asked if alternative options had been considered such as raised tables at strategic junctions along Slade Road at strategic junctions at Oxford Crescent, Icknield Close and Churchill Road with a 20mph speed limit so drivers knew that they were entering a 20mph speed limit area. All his neighbours who were directly impacted with the positioning of these cushions were opposed to installation outside their homes and he urged that their objections be taken into account and consider placing them directly outside the properties of residents who had expressed their support for these measures.

Dawn Elsley outlined several objections to the proposed speed cushion outside their property. Firstly noise due to the braking and accelerating between cushions which she had observed on other roads with speed cushions. The noise had been very noticeable and would impact on rooms at the front of their house. There would also be an increase in air pollution. She also objected on access grounds to their dropped kerb driveway as a cushion would present another obstacle to negotiate when reversing on to or reversing out from their driveway causing a potential safety issue. They were also objecting to the positioning of the speed cushions as on investigation, there appeared to be no specific criteria to where cushions should be placed in a road. They understood that this had been merely an engineering decision and so they were requesting that the speed cushion proposed outside their property be moved along the road where driveway access would not be affected. If installation of speed cushions needed to go ahead, it seemed sensible to perhaps consider placing the speed cushions at locations where residents had expressed their support for this calming scheme. Raised junctions seemed a better alternative and she suggested that 3 along Slade Road at the junctions with Oxford Crescent,  Icknield Close and Churchill Road presented a good compromise. Finally this scheme had caused major conflict between their immediate neighbour and neighbours opposite as they were all opposed to having speed cushions outside their properties and a subsequent proposal to move one speed cushion to have a ‘staggered pair’ outside their properties had caused further upset regarding access obstruction to our neighbours’ driveways. They had been in constant contact with officers regarding their objections to speed cushions in Slade Road and especially next to their dropped kerb driveway in the hope that a satisfactory compromise for all parties could be reached. They had also questioned the provenance of a traffic calming scheme for Slade Road had come about as no accidents had been reported.

Officers advised that the scheme had been promoted in anticipation of an increase in traffic resulting from increased development nearby and finalised following a detailed local technical assessment using relevant regulations regarding their use.  A 3.7 metre length and 1.6 metre width was the standard specification for a cushion in this type of street environment, was bus friendly and could be traversed without braking by vehicles travelling at an appropriate speed. The advantage of cushions over raised tables was that the former could be used along the full length of a road as opposed to raised tables which were used at junctions.  Their recommendation would be for installation of cushions as proposed to enable compliance with the 20 mph limit and that installation of raised tables meant a considerable length of the road subject to the 20 mph limit would be without calming measures

Acknowledging the objection from Thames Valley Police to the speed limit on the usual grounds of self-enforcement the Cabinet Member for Environment also noted their comments regarding poor levels of compliance for a 20 mph limit on the nearby Great Western Park estate, which existed despite there being similar traffic calming in place.  She also acknowledged that the majority of local residents were opposed to the Brasenose Road and Slade Road Area scheme with some referring to a no recorded accident record. She felt there was some merit in exploring an alternative option of additional raised tables.

Councillor Thompson considered that a good compromise.

Therefore, noting the levels of local objection which had been set out in the report before her along with the representations made to her at the meeting which had included  the suggested use of raised tables as an alternative the Cabinet Member for Environment confirmed her decision as follows:

approve the 20 mph limit but take no decision with regard to installation of  traffic calming measures as proposed but ask officers to investigate alternative provision of raised tables at junctions on the route (in addition to the 2 proposed at the Churchill Road junctions) ie Morrells Close with Brasenose Road and possibly Icknield Way and Oxford Crescent.

Signed……………………………………….

Cabinet Member for Environment

Date of signing……………………………..