We’ve had the following email (with photos) from Basil Osborn, a former Rawreth parish councillor. As he knows much more than us about highways, we take his observations very seriously. We immediately passed the details on to the district and county councils and expect them to be sorting this out very quickly. But we’d be grateful for residents to keep an eye on what’s going on and let us know – there’s a virus going around and there’s a chance that we might be out of action for a few days.
“Dear all
Because of the forthcoming Asda appeal I visited Rawreth Lane / Priory Chase this morning and made the following observations. They are not about the Asda appeal but more the handling of the existing developments.
This photo is taken just north of the school. The hoarding is very temporarily propped off the footway. The hoarding remains unsafe despite attempts to prop. The footway should be closed and barriered off as anyone could become trapped with serious consequences.
At the roundabout is an un-gated access to a storage area and as such is unsafe, particularly near a school.
East footway. This is the only footway open to the school and where it is used as an access to a storage area it is both muddy and has excessive trips. Nearer the junction a plastic pipe arises out of the footway, looping over the back of footway edging and is not protected in any way. These trips exceed the Nationally agreed Hauc standards and the cone is not sufficient warning. Although someone was aware of the problem they did not extend the warning to other trips. Every precaution must be taken to prevent mud from being deposited on the footway. All deposits must be removed without delay. Please note the road has been cleaned and is on the whole satisfactory.
West footway is closed presumably for a statutory undertaker connection, where pedestrians are forced to cross the junction very close to Rawreth Lane in a curious temporary arrangement seen on the far right and below.
Add to this that further works are due to start on the junction on Monday. There must always be liaison with the highway authority concerned to avoid concurrent works in close proximity. Even with the best efforts of Knight Construction in constructing the junction the curious temporary arrangements are only going to get more confusing to pedestrians an motorists.
Regrettably the fatal accident of the 27th October serves to remind that Pedestrians Motorists and Cyclists do not safely mix and it is the vulnerable who suffer the consequences.
You will recall that at the planning stage for the Spine Road we pointed out that minimum standards of design were not being observed nor were the guidelines of the Essex Design Guide. We and the Councillors were told by the Officers of Rochford District Council that they did not normally consider design details at the planning stage but were advised that things would be done properly.
The above points are of serious concern. The junction and access work should have been completed prior to the opening of the school or at least minimum standards for safety should have been observed. The school has already been in operation for nearly a half term and Winter is upon us. Please can you ensure that there is a proper plan in place for pedestrians during the junction works by Knight Construction taking into account the Statutory Undertakers Works and that Wimpeys sort out their fencing, mud and trips.
RDC. Essex County Highways and Essex County Council should be sorting this out for us but they appear to have other interests than following minimum standards for safety. ”
