We’ve been exchanging emails with Downhall and St Nicholas Primary Schools recently, and also had some helpful suggestions from local residents about highways improvements.
As a result, Chris has asked County Highways for “School” warning highways signs near the two schools on safety grounds, in Downhall Park Way and Priory Chase respectively.
We’ll keep you advised of the response.
Thank You Chris that’s a positive start. Does this mean that the County Council Highways department are a step closer to legally adopting Priory Chase & Temple Way.
I had yet another nasty encounter at the mini roundabout outside the leisure Centre – a lout driving too fast, not giving way to traffic approaching from the right and choosing to drive around the island the wrong way – a common occurance – but this time I was subjected to verbal abuse and accompanyong hand gestures. Sadly didn’y get his registration number. Assume he was a regular at the leisure centre as he was driving like he owned the road 🙁
Less than half an hour later an incompetant bus driver having to reverse around the island failing miserably to negotiate the roundabout and then driving uo and over the island – and NO for once there wasn’t any vehicles parked irresponsibly blocking the access to the roundabout!
if the local Council want to raise some quick cash I suggest that they install CCTV covering the roundabout and start issuing fixed penalty notices and prosecuting… Oh that’s right they can’t becuase highways haven’t adopted the road yet…
I don’t have a date yet for the adoption of the road, I’m just hoping that we can bust through red tape and get the sign up beforehand.
TWR – I welcome cars parking near or on the roundabout – I can not have my windows that face the roundabout open else all we hear are bus engines and a house filled with exhaust fumes. There was never any discussion with the bus company for a bus service that frankly isn’t used, taking a bus service from London Road that was used to enable this one. Whilst this road is not owned by the council, I welcome anyone to park there!
That said, something has to be done about the patrons of the leisure centre taking short cuts around the roundabout – it is an accident waiting to happen.
Chris – Cuckoo Way in Great Notley Garden Village for 3 years old before it was adopted back in 2002. Mill Grove in High Ongar is over 6 years old now, and still hasn’t been adopted. My understanding (and I may be wrong) is that it is the local authority and not county highways that adopt the roads.
If it is County that do the adoption, if Mill Grove is still waiting (and a friend is Parish Councillor there) and havn’t heard anything yet, then we’re a long way away from being adopted.
If it is RDC that will do the adopting, well, we all know how slow RDC are with doing anything that isn’t in their Tory agenda.
Corey, as for your comment that the bus service from the ASDA store is not used, I use it on a fairly regular basis as do a lot of other people. Without this bus I would be stuck at home as the cost of a taxi into Rayleigh is now £7.00 each way and rising. I do not use the Regal bus service as this would cost more money in that I would have to get an ‘Octopus’ ticket so that I could use other bus services.
Christine, with all due respect, I live diagonally across from the bus stop – so see the (and I use the term extremely loosly) queues forming – the most ever seen is 7 people queing and many times the bus is empty. In fact more often than not. As per my previous post, the bus passes my house every time it comes along Priory Chase and can see it quiet easily from all rooms downstairs.
I am glad you use it – but where would you have gone prior to this service? It was never mentioned to the residents of Priory Chase that this service would be operated when we purchased our homes, the roundabout it turns on is far too small to cope with the bus turning, and as a resident I find the constant buzzing of its reversing beacon anti-social – I purchased a house on the edge of a town for some peace and quiet – I have anything but peace and quiet, and yes I am bitterly angry about the way Priory Chase/Temple Way residents keep getting a bum deal. Please don’t take this as a personal attack it is anything but.
Corey, I do not take this as a personal attack. Prior to this service I would generally wait until the weekend, hope that my husband would not be working, and get him to drop me off in either Rayleigh, Southend or Basildon depending on what needed to be done. Prior to all the house building in Rawreth there was a very good bus service that terminated at Bedloes corner and if it was just a quick shopping trip you could get the bus into Rayleigh and 30 mins later get the return bus for home. I appreceiate that it can be extremely annoying for you and your family but, unfortunately, in this day and age very little consideration is given to residents. Should either of the current bus services be withdrawn it would cause a lot of problems for those who do rely on it. Perhaps it may be possible to speak to the bus company about using one of the smaller buses which could go some way to alleviating the situation?
It is not just Leisure Centre patrons taking sort cuts around the roundabout either. A local resident does it almost every morning at around 8.45 a.m and woebetide anyone that gets in her way. She wears no seatbelt, despite having a child in the car in school uniform, and refuses to give way to anything in per path – even though they may have the right of way!!
CCR
She’ll get her comeupance – if she isn’t wearing a seatbelt and she hits another car at speed – she’ll go straight through the windscreen. Has no-one got her licence plate details?
Surely whoever is currently responsible for Priory Chase (ownership rights) and/or the developer must have a ‘Duty of Care’ in respect of this roundabout.
If the road was adopted the roundabout would be illegal for the following reasons.
Firstly, there are no statutory blue and white keep left/directional arrows on the roundabout, secondly,only two of the four access points to the roundabout have dotted lines across them and no warning triangles are painted on the roads, thirdly, there are no notices as you approach the roundabout to warn there is a roundabout ahead. I also believe that as it is a roundabout with raised kerbs it should be illuminated. This is not a painted on the road mini-roundabout, it is a hazard and should be signed and lit accordingly.
Why I mention ‘Duty of Care’ above is because I believe that if a serious accident were to occur here resulting in injuries or even death, those responsible for the roundabout should be held liable in addition to any careless driver who may have caused the accident. I can envisage large compensation claim here, even from Priory Chase residents if a car or bus plunged into the front of there houses.
Does anyone know how the law would apply in such a case?
It would be interesting to find out exactly who is responsible for the roundabout – I believe it is actually ASDA as they were responsible for tarmacing the road from Rawreth Lane upto and including the roundabout – Wimpeys were responsible for tarmacing Tample and Way and Priory Chase from the roundabout towards the school.
The roundabout is classed as only a mini roundabout – it therefore doesn’t need the blue and white arrows – besides, every driver should alredy know how to go around a roundabout (mini or otherwise) so why would they suddenly obey a metal sign?
I will oppose any additional street lighting – my bedroom is about 4 foot away from the roundabout and is already subject to a ridiculous amount of light pollution from the sheer number of street lamps in the vacinity as well as from ASDAs service yard.
With regard to compensation, yes – if anything hits my house, or damages my garden (and the bus does come within inches of my property line) I will sue to the fullest extent of the law!
You can’t have it both ways Corey, either you want a safe road or you don’t. I feel your protestations about light pollution are weak, walk along and look at the intensity of the lights in Rawreth Lane at the at the junction with Laburnum Way. We don’t even need lights on in the house after dark as the street lights give us plenty of illumination.
PS. I also have a bus stop outside my house. Stop winging!
Excuse me Greenbelt – do you have a good dozen streelights outside 100% of the bedrooms in your house?
How dare you tell me to stop whinging – I have had to put up with ASDA and noise all hours of the day and night – noise pollution, yobbish behaviour and a hell of a lot more. I have tried tirelessly to make this area better for residents, including going out to mobs at 3 in the morning telling them to clear off, simply because the police never attend, and we have very young children on this street.
Bottom line is that I have a legal right to peaceful enjoyment of my property. This has been the noisest town I have ever lived in – and that includes cities such as London and New York City.
The roundabout doesn’t need any more lighting – come and count how many street lights are already on it.
As for the bus stop – do buses attempt (poorly) to turn outside your house everyday from early morning to late evening? NO! Do you have to put up with reversing buzzers outside your bedroom? NO! So you have absolutely no idea how annoying and disruptive it is. Live here for a day, and change your tune.
I have lived in the RDC area for 41 years and in Rawreth Lane for 26o0f those. When I moved into this road I moved to a place in the country. The lane had green fields on both sides and I looked out over open country. There was no Downhall Park Way estate, no Laburnum Way estate, no Priory Chase estate and no estate on what used to be Read’s Nursery.
The reason I moved here no longer exists and it is all down to the new developments and the incomers.
I had two choices, either move away or accept it. I chose to accept it. Please don’t go on to tell me you cannot afford to move away because of the slump in the value of houses because I have read it too many times before in your submissions to this site. I expect many others feel the same.
I have said my piece on this and I will not be making any further comment.
The slump in property prices have been mentioned because they are FACT! As testified to me by experts in the property arena! If you don’t like reading what I have to say, the answer is very simple – DON’T READ MY POSTS!
I’ve enjoyed reading this site and posting occasionally because of it’s local nature and the fact it’s not like many (most?) forum posting sites. Although I’m not a lib dem voter or supporter it’s a site that’s a bit like a Sunday afternoon stroll – pleasant, enjoyable, something I chose to do, rather than the more hectic, agressive, annoymous individuals on ‘traditional’ moderated forum sites that get very heated and agressive all too often. I’ve been there moderating and posting on such sites for years, walking away when it gets too personal and agressive, as forums usually do from time to time.
I’m sure this site won’t start to de-generate into that type of thing and being largely unmonitored and not a real forum site, it’s up to those who post not to comment in the heat of the moment and potentially start a downward spiral.
Corey, you could equally say that if you can’t accept someone challenging or questioning your views that you shouldn’t post them in the first place? The use of capitals on such sites is typically viewed as shouting and is likley to draw responses verging on agressive, I know my intial reply here would have been to get drawn into a response that may have been seen by many to be of that type.
I’d hate this site to lose it’s quaint local, helpful, friendly nature and everyone who posts comments has a responsibility to uphold that if that’s something they want to maintain?
Admin, I’m sure you can edit or remove any of this if you want, particularly if you think it will cause offence and I hope describing the site as quaint etc doesn’t offend you or anyone else!
Bigbry, if you think we are quaint I don’t mind, though I think ‘quirky’ is a better description!
We aim to strike a home-grown local style, which I think you’ve noticed, and I’m please with the intelligent level of debate we get here. (I hope that doesn’t sound smug).
But we also mean those words in the sidebar that say “We want to improve local decision-making and we see onlineFOCUS as a good way of keep residents informed and involved.” . A lot of residents don’t have the time or inclination to go to meetings etc. but there’s a lot of talented, wise people out there who want the best for their home area.
As for Greenbelt and Corey, they show the frustration and anger people experience from badly planned development. One of them has lived 41 years and seen dramatic, unwelcome changes (hey I’m 50 and can just barely remember when the residential part of Hullbridge Road was hedgelined, let alone Rawreth Lane. Another has moved onto a new development that has been built with a shameful lack of thoughtful planning. I’m only glad that I can examine my own conscience and know that I did what I could.
This has all made very interesting reading…
Corey, when you bought your house you knew it was on a junction. The junction – whether with or without a raised mini-roundabout needs to be marked, lit and road signed as per the law and parking and other moving traffic offences enforced. Any responsible citizen would not have it any other way.
Advocating selfish, irresponsible and dangerous parking on the approach and around the roundabout does nothing for your credibility.
The vehicles that park on and around the roundabout add to the already existing hazard of the hedges blocking the view of the road and therefore oncoming traffic when exiting Temple Way. And NO I’m not suggesting that the hedges should be cut back as they are perfectly legal BUT do not add to this exsisting hazard.
I do have every sympathy with the trials and tribulations caused by ASDA and the bus terminus but please do not seek to undermine the law. The sooner that these roads are marked, signed and lit accordingly the better.
Greenbelt, I agree! Who owns – and therfore is legally responsible for – Priory Chase up to and including the roundabout? How does the law stand if there is an incident or accident on the road? Admin are you able to assist please?
TWR – It’s an unadopted public highway. I believe that all (or nearly all) of the motoring laws apply. One motable exception is that the yellow lines are currently unofficial and not enforceable. Due legal process (including public notices with the chance to object) would start once the road is adopted.
Thank You Chris, I’m hoping that common sense and decency prevails and the roads are adopted ASAP. However if motoring laws apply now then the local Police should enforce the law now! This includes parking too close to or actually on junctions/roundabouts on Priory Chase and Temple Way and moving traffic offences – including those commited umpteen times a day by the Buses using the the unlawful(?) Bus Terminus on Priory Chase and unsuccessfully negotiating the raised mini roundabout umpteen times a day. For goodness sake stop this madness NOW and use the properly marked bus stop on Rawreth Lane!
I am not actually in favour of the double yellow lines on BOTH sides of Priory Chase as they prevent residents and their visitors from lawfully parking in front of their homes -lawfully being the operative word of course i.e. NOT on the approach to a junction or roundabout etc…
Perhapes a FREE residents parking permit scheme could be introduced on Priory Chase if parking restrictions are actually necessary at all outside the houses?
Of course parking will inevitably become much more of a problem when the football pitches start to operate….!
Of course, it should be remembered that you actually have no legal right to be allowed to park on the road outside your own house as you do not own the public highway!!
I think this is what the problem is in a lot of cases – people who have perfectly ample parking on their own driveways see a neighbour put a car outside their house and then panic into thinking “oh no he might park his car outside my house”! Hence they become territorial and do the same. Have seen it happen in almost all of the places I have lived between Rayleigh and Stratford E15.
Pleased to note that things seem to have improved in Downhall Park Way on the bend – well, at least for the moment.
Re the inconsiderate driver – her details have been passed to the local Road Safety Team – who regularly visit the School and Asda as part of their “patch”. They will pass it to the police.
CCR
This has been very interesting reading.
I live dead opposite the Asda and the bus stop. I can say that we were never asked if we would like to have a bus route in the same road as ours nor were we given any warning until the bus stop was erected! The same can be said of the double yellow lines that nobody asked for. If you were to have a look at our parking area you would be hard pushed to find space for everyone’s cars. Everyone is allocated one space so what are you meant to do with the other car? When we bought this house we were told that Asda’s planning application would be refused. We had no idea that it would be built so close and if we had of known we most certainly would not have bought the house. It isn’t pleasant having groups of youths driving around Asda car park with their music blaring at 10.30pm when you have small children. Until you have lived in this road you can’t really know the full extent of what our lives are like on a daily basis.
Well said Priory Chase resident – I have been saying pretty much the same for the past 18 months – good to read someone has the same views as me – were you kept awake by youths banging on ASDA bins (after they had removed the inards) on Friday night?