Thank you to all of those who attended the Thamesdown Drive/Redhouse Way highways drop-in event, it was very well attended and proved a fantastic opportunity for residents to be personally updated, raise concerns and feed in suggestions.
In attendance we had:
- Angus McPherson, Police & Crime Commissioner
- Inspector Andrew Bridges, North Swindon Police
- Philip Martlew, SBC Highways Officer
- James Jackson, SBC Transport Planning and Traffic management
- Councillor David Renard, Leader of SBC
- Priory Vale Borough Councillors Toby Elliott, Emma Faramarzi & Malcolm Davies
- St Andrew’s Borough Councillors Vera Tomlinson, Gemma McCracken & Mary Friend
- Haydon Wick Borough Councillors Gary Perkins, David Renard & Oliver Donachie
We had a lot of feedback from residents to say thank you for allowing a format in which everybody was able to talk directly to the decision makers.
I also feel that everybody’s position was established, and that we are pretty much at a point where we understand the situation, something which I have attempted to summarise below.
Thamesdown Drive
- The Police. Discussed with residents the increase number of patrols they have done on TDD (with varied results) and acknowledge the impact that their visibility has on the road. Residents were very supportive of this additional pro-active work.
- CCTV Cameras. SBC’s plans for the installation and use of CCTV cameras on Thamesdown Drive were presented. SBC are using s.106 funding (monies given by developers to offset local developments) to fund the CCTV project at the most dangerous junctions. There was a mixed reaction to this.
- Positive: SBC feel CCTV is a step in the right direction as it will 1) aid prosecutions for any future incidents and 2) include signs for cameras which will act as a deterrent.
- Negative: Residents raised concerns that it will not actively capture someone breaking traffic offence and result in enforcement by the Police as they are not traditional speed cameras.
- Speed Cameras. Many residents pushed for traditional speed cameras, as per the public meeting last year. Whilst SBC could fund the cost of installation through s.106 funding from developers, the issue is the ongoing costs of running them as all the fines go directly to the Government to contribute towards the national Police and Highways budgets. Neither SBC nor the Police are willing to cover the costs without the income from the fines so there is a stalemate and this why the fixed speed cameras were scrapped in Swindon in 2008.
Under the Traffic Management Act (2004) (TMA), local authorities can apply for powers to take on further enforcement themselves for contraventions including parking and bus lanes, BUT they cannot apply for the same powers relating to moving traffic offences which has always been the case throughout all Governments, of all political persuasions. Why? Because the main argument against this, which isn’t unreasonable when you look outside of the context of TDD, is that more devolution of powers to local authorities would lead to an inconsistent application of road traffic law. There have also been many high profile national bodies that have made this argument including the DVSA (Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency) Trade Union Side and Unite. The RAC also expressed similar concerns.
In the meantime, I am keen to push for the additional use of the Police’s mobile speed cameras and perhaps the local Parish Councils could consider contributing to the ongoing costs if they felt this was a priority for our area?
- Thamesdown Drive Improvements. Many residents raised helpful suggestions on various improvements to the design and layout of Thamesdown Drive which could help. In particular the suggestion to lose the 3 lane which merges into the 2 lanes shortly after the Orbital as these are often used for excessive overtaking. Highways Officers will investigate.
Redhouse Way
- Redhouse Way was built under the last Labour Government’s higher density rules which allowed developers to reduce the parking provision and increase the number of houses. They had hoped people would give up their cars and switch to public transport, however people simply created new (often inappropriate and dangerous parking) spaces. On Redhouse Way this had made it difficult to pass larger oncoming vehicles (with stand-offs even making the Swindon Advertiser!) and has seen an increasing number of people parking fully on the pedestrian footpaths. Thankfully we (Conservative Government) scrapped these higher density rules in 2010 and all new developments have considerably more parking provision, for example as we are seeing in Tadpole Farm.
- Swindon Borough Council displayed plans to create additional passing points by placing double yellow lines opposite a number of roads and measures to restrict access for cars to park on the pedestrian footpaths. There was broad support for these measures at the meeting. This work will be very closely monitored to see if similar measures could be used on other roads such as Eastbury Way etc.
- Wider Footpaths. Many residents asked why Redhouse Way couldn’t be extended into the wider footpaths, however these contain the utilities for the area so need to remain as footpaths for easy access for the utility companies. In addition the residents who bought a house by the wider footpaths are very much against the road being brought closer to their front doors.
If you would like to see the proposals then please get in touch and I can email these over to you.
Conclusion
Thank you again for everyone who took the time to engage. It was very helpful to both bring together all the decision makes, but also to share everyone’s personal experiences and suggestions. I will continue to press both the Police and Swindon Borough Council to explore all options to improve safety and will provide full updates as they happen.
