Willis Waye/Church Lane Kings Worthy – Traffic Issues petition

Response from Hampshire County Council, June 2012

Due to the high demand for traffic calming measures, such as road humps, priority is given to locations with the highest recorded levels of personal injury accidents, particularly where excess speed has been a factor reported by the Police. There have been no injury-accidents reported in Willis Waye during the past five years and so it does not warrant inclusion on the County Council's safety programme. Similarly, the only injury-accidents reported in Church Lane and Nations Hill have occurred at either end where the roads meet London Road and Springvale Road. I am pleased to say there have not been significant numbers of accidents at these junctions and there are no unusual patterns or trends that currently warrant our intervention. Given these good accident records, we could not justify any safety measures in Willis Waye or Church Lane/Nations Hill in the foreseeable future, when compared to other less fortunate routes throughout the County.

The County Council, in common with other councils, has been faced with a very significant reduction in funding in recent years, and we have had to make difficult choices and decisions to protect front-line services. The resources available for implementing traffic management projects have been identified across Hampshire which are now awaiting funding before they can be programmed. The competition for resources means that those schemes with a high benefit to cost ratio are most likely to reach the top of the list as funding becomes available.

Unfortunately, most roads will suffer some incidents of inconsiderate or inappropriate driving and it can be difficult to resolve these issues without unnecessarily impacting on the majority of other road users who drive appropriately. Given that Willis Waye is a cul-de-sac with on-road parking around the perimeter of the grass verge, it is unlikely that speeds will be significantly high. I would point out that implementation of a one-way system is likely to further increase speeds, which of course would be unacceptable given your current concerns. I have checked with the local traffic management team at Winchester City Council and they are not aware of any particular history of speed-related issues in Willis Waye or Church Lane.

In Willis Waye, the central grass area and the existing lay-bys were laid out when car parking pressures were much less. It is acknowledged that cars do park on the grass which is unsatisfactory especially in winter when the ground is soft and becomes muddy. The local highways team will consult with Winchester City Council (because they look after the central grassed area) and providing that approval and finance are both available they will aim to enlarge the lay-bys in future years.

There are no plans at present to widen the footways along Church Lane or to implement any pinch points in the road here. The footways will be checked in case they need scraping to ensure they are not being narrowed by a build up of mud and leaves.

The signs we can provide on the public highway are governed by Department for Transport regulations. There are no 'children at play' or similar signs prescribed for use where children may play informally in residential streets. 'Playground' signs can be used where there is a formal/recognisable play area with play facilities.

Councillor M J Kendal
Executive Member for Environment and Transport