Community, Parish Council & Village
Speedwatch – Call for VolunteersAnthony Robins, the local Speedwatch Coordinator, is issuing a call for volunteers. Speedwatch is a group of volunteers from West Bergholt and EAG who regularly go out and monitor the speed of the traffic on some local roads. Those seen above the limit are reported to the police who, in the first instance, Continue reading “Speedwatch – Call for Volunteers and Some Interesting Dates”
The Parish Council would like to thank all of the volunteers, who kindly gave up their time to assist with the West Bergholt Hand in Hand Day.
The volunteers who came to help on the day joined the Colchester Borough Community Zone Team. The street sweepers were out most of the day, clearing all of the major and minor roads. Litter picking was conducted around the Orpen Hall, along Hall Road, Colchester Road and by the allotments. Paths were strimmed and cleared of debris, making them easier to use.
This has all helped contribute to maintaining West Bergholt as a clean and pleasant place to live.
Many thanks
Speedwatch – How, What & WhyThe following update has been provided by Anthony Robins, local Speedwatch Coordinator, to provide an insight into, inter alia, the How, What and Why of the work Speedwatch volunteers do.
Many people, including myself, have been concerned about the number of speeding vehicles in the area, so a few of us have been trained by Essex Police, and we go to approved sites, with a radar speed gun, and pass on details of speeding motorists we observe to the Police.
How: The radar gun works on the Doppler Effect and is regularly checked for accuracy. Initially the Police just send a polite letter, with the details of the time and place and speed, asking the motorist to obey the speed limits in future.
Why: It is not our aim to raise money, or to prosecute but to get all to obey the speed limits. We are all motorists ourselves and our aim is to make the roads safer for all to use.
We know that some motorists resent our doing this, and even some regular road users like taxi drivers have been offensive. They should realise that, especially in an urban environment, keeping ones maximum speed within the speed limit, only adds very little to the total journey time. Being stuck in traffic because some other motorist has caused an incident adds significantly to many people’s journey time.
Some will claim that speed does not cause accidents, however on the roads higher speeds give one less time to react to incidents, even to the errors of others! It is better to give a few seconds to allow for someone else’s error, than to have a collision and to spend months sorting out the consequences.
What: When we do our sessions, we have warning signs and have to wear High Visibility clothing. Many motorists do see this, and slow down accordingly, but some do not. If they are unable to see us, then they are unlikely to see other hazards.
The braking distance increases with the square of the speed, which means that travelling at double the speed, quadruples ones braking distance. When the thinking distance is taken into account, the Highway Code gives total stopping distances of 75 ft (23 metres) at 30 mph; 96ft (29 m) at 35 mph; and 120 ft (36 m) at 40 mph. That extra 24 feet could make the difference between hitting another car or pedestrian, and avoiding them.
When we do our sessions, pedestrians often complain to us about the excessive speed of some vehicles in both villages, many quoting 50 and even 60 mph. It is possible that some may be exaggerated, and it is not always easy to judge speeds. Most HGVs we see are within the limit, but they appear faster, and with narrow pavements (if any pavement at all) the turbulence they create can be intimidating to pedestrians.
Because Baker’s Lane has been closed a lot more traffic is using our villages to get from, say, Braiswick to the A12. Nothing wrong with this, of course, but they should obey the law. Argent’s Lane is especially more busy. With a National speed limit of 60mph, few if any exceed this, but it is nevertheless dangerous, as in some places it is impossible for two cars to pass.
The route also regularly sees large farm vehicles, some with dangerous spikes on the front, and some articulated HGVs. It is not illegal for them to use this route, but if they turn to go over the river bridge, then they are breaking the law, as there is a 7 tonne limit. Nevertheless it is extremely foolish to use the route, as if two were to meet it could be very difficult to resolve, as almost certainly a line of cars would quickly build up behind both vehicles.
If others are concerned about these issues and would like to join us, then please contact Anthony C Robin, E-mail [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”].
The Environment & Highways Sub-Committee of West Bergholt Parish Council met on 13th November to consider a range of issues and decisions affecting the general environment and highways within West Bergholt. Updates on hedge cutting, handymen, weeds, village ponds, Traffic safety, pot-holes, dog bins, beacon, budget & McNally Mews. The formal report to the Parish Council is as follows:
| Councillors present | Harry Stone, Murray Harlow, Jenny Church, Phil Walby, Rosemary James |
| Apologies | Rachel Howard |
Andrew Savage attended part of meeting
| 1 | Hedge cutting | |
| The hedge cutting and bramble mowing has been carried out and has been very well done. The CBC sweeper followed on and cleared the trimmings. Verges still need attention particularly along New Church Road. | HS | |
| 2 | Village handyman | |
| The use of a chit book appears to be working. Unfortunately, Ivor has been called for jury service so some jobs are waiting attention at the moment. | PW | |
| 3 | Overgrowth of weeds on footways | |
| There has been an incident in New Church Road when a resident slipped on wet vegetation on the footway and broke an arm. Need to ensure village handyman or CBC Rangers keep footways as clear as possible at this time of year when it is wet and there are fallen leaves etc. | ||
| 4 | Village Ponds | |
| The Queens Road pond has been cleared today. Arrange for Norhurst to clear away the cuttings.The Lexden Road pond will be cleared on November 23rd and the Hall Road pond will have to be left until the new year. | JC | |
| 5. | Traffic Safety Plan | |
| The plan is apparently going ahead after it has been signed off for progress. | HS | |
| 6 | Pot Holes | |
| Increase in road markings but no work carried out as yet. | ||
| 7 | Dog bin | |
| A bin is required for the Brewery site – check with Val if this has been ordered. | Val | |
| 8. | Beacon | |
| The beacon has not been put back in place – to check with Chris about this. | JC | |
| A plaque needs to be ordered to go on the beacon – Murray to organise this. | MH Agenda item |
|
| 9 | Areas of work in village | |
| Plan to produce a map showing sites of our responsibility in the village. | HS | |
| 10 | Budget for next year. | |
| Andrew discussed preparation of budget for next year. He will forward a copy of agreed budget to sub committee | AS | |
| 11 | McNally Mews | |
| Thanks to Chris for researching the issue raised by Ashley Yates. The request for tree and hedge planting in the area appears to be in accordance with the covenant and there seems to be no objection to be made to this request. | Agenda Item | |
| 13 | AOB | |
| Rosemary requested information about a drainage problem caused by tree roots for a resident recently coming to the village. She will contact CBC for advice and information. | RJ | |
| Date of next meeting to be notified |
Anthony Robin, local Speedwatch volunteer for West Bergholt & Eight Ash Green, is passionate about the need for drivers to cut speeding, but in making his regular report and call for volunteers, his thoughts wandered into some historic and other directions related to speed. The following is the result of this little distraction:
When I came to live in Eight Ash Green, over 30 years ago, the main road through the village was called the A604. The large green route signs labelled it as so, with the destination Cambridge marked, and if I remember correctly, the distance given was 49 miles. Originally the A604 had run all the way from Harwich to Kettering. In fact the 6 at the front suggests it does not belong to this sector of the country, but the sector between the A6 (London-Holyhead) and the A1 (London-Edinburgh). Our sector roads start with a one.
To try to reduce the through traffic the authorities, relabelled the road, and whilst the route still exists it has different numbers for different sections. Our local section, between Colchester and Halstead is labelled A1124, the next section to Haverhill is A1017, and the section between Haverhill and Cambridge is A1307. The through traffic is signposted either A12 & A14 via Ipswich, or A120 and M11 via Stanstead.
Nevertheless this route is a lot shorter, and so for slow traffic is quicker, so many lorries still use this route. In fact my SatNav suggests I use the ‘A604’ route to get to Addenbrookes Hospital, and the A120/M11 route to Cambridge centre. The authorities also changed the speed limit through all the villages on our route from 40 to 30 mph.
Despite these changes, a few months ago, I noticed that one sign on the “South Circular” between Kent Blaxill and the Leather Bottle was still directing traffic to Cambridge along this route (see picture above). It was misleading, because there are no follow on signs for Cambridge.
The A1307 section is in Cambridgeshire, and there are large notices saying that the route is dangerous, saying high speed collisions kill and asking motorists to slow down. There are also several “graves” on this section of the road. No one is actually buried there, of course, but there are flowers and gravestones and even pictures of people who have been killed nearby.
In France it is official policy to put signs up as shown right, although the actual style varies in the different Departments. This particular one shows where 5 teenagers were killed. It certainly pulls no punches! Should we be doing this in the UK? Does it make people realise the dangers of the roads, or does it even distract motorists making other accidents more likely?
To try to make local motorists obey the speed limit in our villages, both on the A 1124, B 1508 and elsewhere, a few of us regularly go out with a radar gun, and report offenders to the police. The project is called Speedwatch, and other groups go out in other parts of the County. Other Counties are involved with similar schemes.
If you would be interested in joining us, please contact me.
Anthony C Robin 01206 571910, [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”]
This news update was posted to our Facebook page where a reader provided this further insight into the politics of road naming:
At the time of the route re numbering I was a member of Castle Hedingham Parish Council. ECC proposed that the road from Braintree Corner, Sible Hedingham, and Halstead High Street be downgraded to B road status (in order to further reduce the chances of drivers seeing the old A604 as a viable through road). There were various objections (you can probably guess from whom) on the grounds that if Halstead were no longer a crossroads of two A roads it would lose some of it’s status. This from people who continue to campaign for measures to reduce traffic through Halstead…. Simon Daw
Pot holes are the leading item of this months Village News. After all the wet weather we have experienced this winter some of our village roads and surrounding area have been badly affected. It is really easy to report a road problem to Essex County Council on their web site – http://www.essexhighways.org/report-a-highways-problem.aspx.
You can phone to report a problem on 0845 67 430 430. If we do not report problems they will not know what needs doing.
Other items addressed in the latest news update are:
Borough Councillors, Marcus Harrington & Dennis Willetts yesterday sent the following to residents of Valley Crescent:
The potholes at the junction of Valley Crescent and Chapel Lane have been a cause of anger and frustration for many months. Many of you have reported them through the proper on-line method on the Essex County Council website. Many of you have also reported them to us and we have both been in constant communication with ECC’ s Highways Department about them.
We agree the situation is unacceptable. Potholes of this dimension cannot be left for such a long time without repair. We have made our feelings abundantly clear.
As Colchester Borough Councillors we cannot do more than apply pressure. The responsibility for pothole repair does not lie with our Council. We have, however, also offered to repair the potholes ourselves but that offer fell on deaf ears.
Finally some hope is on the horizon and this is the reason for writing. We have been faithfully informed by Essex County Council’s Highways Department that repair of these potholes will be part of a wider programme of road surface repair in West Bergholt which should be completed by the end of March 2013. We want to let you know of this commitment arid hope you share some hope with us, even though it would take a brave man to put his mortgage on it!
With best wishes,
Cllr Marcus Harrington
Cllr Dennis Willetts
If you are plagued by potholes (or any of a wide range of Highways problems – see picture above) then don’t forget you can report them directly to Essex County Council’s Highway’s Department using their website.