At the West Area Committee meeting on Tuesday we should have had a presentation from County Highways on the Localism Budget. However for some reason the presentation materials didn’t turn up so all we got was some fractured bits of information.
The message we were given was that the County Council was concentrating on maintenance.
Any actual improvements that district and parish councillors had put forward under the “Localism Budget” couldn’t be guaranteed, as the budget was ‘on hold’. We were told very little, except that there would be a little meeting of Councillor Keith Hudson and the three chairs of the area committees (all Conservatives) to decide what improvements would still be carried out. What’s happening in the County Budget is not clear (and any cuts being made are being made before anything the coalition government has determined)
During this item the Conservatives councillors present sat there in glum silence, except for County Councilllor Mavis Webster, who said that she was trying to get the senior highways people in the County to recognise that Rochford existed.
On the Lib Dem side Bruce Smart stressed the importance of getting something in Hullbridge Road opposite Lubards Farm, Chris Black pointed out that yellow lines were NOT expensive in terms of the highways budget and Ron Oatham mentioned that if County Highways were concentrating on maintainance, why hadn’t they fixed potholes he had reported 27 weeks ago…
All in all the “Localism” is being turned into “Yokelism” – we are being kept in the dark as if we were a bunch of country bumpkins.
Can you clarify position re traffic lights at Downhall Park Way and rawreth Lane. Did the Highways rep state that this was now out for tender? I seem to remember a statement saying it was taking a bit longer due to an electrical issue. The money is there as Rayleigh Town Council only received the Community Intiative Funding on the understanding the Essex C.C. would provide the rest. Did County Councillor Hume also make clear that the money is still there? So it is still a question of when not if.
My impression is that the new crossing there is almost certainly still going to go ahead. It would be too embarassing now for the County leadership to cancel it.
To be honest, I think that just improving the lighting would make this junction a lot better for people crossing the end of DPW.
Even with the new Asda and surrounding extra houses there doesn’t appear to be that many extra pedestrians using this stretch of road, and it may be that a lot of pedestrians actually cut through the DPW estate and don’t need to actually cross at the junction with Rawreth Lane. Of course, this may change when they build the eleventy billion new houses on the greenbelt and join us up to Wickford.
Sorry St but a lot of young mums use this crossing point going to Asda, St Nicolas or Downhall or Downhall under 5’s. this crossing is not only necessary it is essential. You are wrong.
Bruce, that’s fair enough, it was just a personal observation that I don’t tend to see that many people waiting to cross there whenever I travel this stretch. If there is funding for improvement then great, go for it.
I know there was an accident there a few years back, and I’ve had a near miss myself at this junction when a pedestrian in dark clothing was crossing at night. I think there is an issue with the lighting at this junction, the first street lamp is some distance from the traffic lights and throws light on the back of those crossing, rather than lighting them up where a driver can see them. Turning into DPW from the brightly lit Rawreth Lane can make it hard to see people in the road.
Certainly the night time safety could be improved just by looking at street lighting.
I would really support a crossing at this junction. I regularly walk this way with two children and find it impossible to explain to them where and when to safely cross!
My understanding was that there was money previously set aside given by the developers for a crossing, but never used. I understand that Essex CC didn’t plan the crossing in time to be able to use the funds which I guess leaves them wide open to legal challenge when accidents happen here? I know of at least one serious accident when a friend’s mum was knocked down and seriously injured.
Street lighting and a pedestrian crossing are both essential in my view.
Before you get up a posse and head off to RDC it might be worth replacing opinions with facts. How many accidents has there been at the junction, one in twenty years ? ( yes – I accept one is one too many ) but is it any more dangerous than any other junction ? Might it be better to concentrate on the dozen or so halfwits who live on the estate who think 45mph is acceptable in a built up area with lots of kids around ?
It seems that the County Highways budget is in a state of total confusion at the moment (and that’s putting it mildly).
However, this crossing falls into a unique category. As Deanne says, there was money previously set aside given by the developers for this crossing, but never used because Essex CC acted so slowly. As a result there seems to be a willingness at the highest levels of County Hall to put things right and build the crossing.
If the crossing isn’t built, the funds won’t be offered for something else. It should have been built years ago, it will improve safety, it should be built.