Petitions can often take a long time to go through the formal system at county hall so rather than delay matters unnecessarily we decided to contact the highways section at county hall direct to ask them to start the assessment process used to decide whether traffic calming measures would be suitable or effective at any given location.
We have now received confirmation from the traffic assets senior manager that this process has started. The assessment process itself can be fairly lengthy, mainly because of legal issues, a statutory period of public consultation and funding application issues, but the sooner it starts the sooner the council's highway's engineers will be able to assess the need for traffic calming measures in Hazel Drive.
We have published below in full the traffic assets manager's response to our request:
Dear Councillors
In response to your request for consideration of the
provision of traffic calming for Hazel Drive in Hesleden, I can provide the
following information. I should advise that there is a process we have to
follow when considering requests for traffic calming.
The first part of the process is to consider factual vehicle
speed data – this is generally from speed surveys or information from the
Police via Community Speed Watch activities. Unfortunately we have not
received a similar request previously or had complaints of vehicle speeds
therefore I do not have any speed survey data which I could consider at this
time. Therefore I will arrange for survey work to be carried out to
obtain this data. This data will then be analysed to determine the
severity and extent of the issue. We also analyse any accident data from
personal injury accidents to see if there are any particular causation factors
which may influence the provision of a scheme. Once this has been done I
will discuss the findings with you. This can usually take a month
depending upon demands for surveys.
Assuming a scheme can be justified from the data analysis,
we will then provide a draft scheme which should comply with the legal
requirements for traffic calming provision. To give you an idea,
initially I would envisage three humps on the main through road and a single
one on the northern loop round the green.
The next stage is to prepare the necessary funding
applications and seek approval. Unfortunately this part of the process
can be lengthy (up to 3 months) depending upon when the board meetings are to
consider/approve the applications.
A detailed design is then completed and this will be subject
to consultation in accordance with the legal requirements. In addition to
this we also consult with the residents who are likely to be affected by the
scheme. The consultation period is a minimum of three weeks. We
then consider any objections we receive against the scheme and whether there
are any measures or changes which can ease concerns.
The next part of the process is to prepare reports seeking
approvals to initiate the legal process. The proposed traffic calming
scheme is then formally advertised and open to legal challenge.
If after all this there are outstanding objections which
cannot be resolved, they will have to be reported to the Council’s Highways
Committee which will consider the arguments. The Committee could require
the scheme to be re-designed or abandoned if it is not approved.
Assuming approval of the scheme we are now at a position to
place an order for the works to be constructed. The lead in time for this
can be up to 2 months while a slot in the works programme is found and
materials ordered.
I hope this information is useful and I can confirm that in
accordance with your request I have commenced the process. Should you
require further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
