| From
Borough
Councillor
Stephen
Ford
---
Wivenhoe
Quay
Ward
Dear Philip
Thomson,
I am writing to you as
Colchester Borough Councillor for Wivenhoe
Quay Ward. My
Ward
includes all of the Parking and other Traffic restrictions being promoted
as part of the redevelopment of the former Cook’s Shipyard Site.
I also write as someone
who lives in Valley road which is directly affected by the proposed T.R.Os.
To
support my arguments I will make reference to The Adopted Review
Colchester Borough Local Plan March 2004.
(Herewith refered to as Plan)
I also
held 5 meetings with residents directly affected by the proposed T.R.Os.
Each meeting was for 2 hours.
2 meetings were held in March 2006 (15th and 18th)
and 3 meetings were
held in July 2006. (14th, 15th
and18th) Before the meetings
in March I sent out approx. 190 letters and before the meetings in July I
sent out approx. 350 letters. 31
residents attended the July meetings and approx. 35 attended the meetings
in March. There was some
overlap in that some people who came to the March meetings also came to
the July meetings. On the 12th
of March I held a telephone surgery for 8 hours.
I received 20 phone calls and 6 residents visited my house.
The general views of these various meetings are included in this
e-mail. Once again there was
overlap between those who phoned and those who attended the meetings.
- Loss
of Parking Spaces.
On Friday the 14th
of July I walked around those roads affected by the proposed T.R.Os.
I conservatively estimate that Lower Wivenhoe
will lose 22 Parking Spaces.(Appendix 1)
Lower Wivenhoe already has problems
with car parking Plan
T9a page 137 argues that
reducing car
parking spaces is to be done by promoting methods of transport other than
cars. However there is no
mention that this is to be achieved by denying parking spaces in the first
place.
With
reference to Plan
9a page 137
“phased
improvements in public transport services”
Wivenhoe
public transport has not improved. Fares
for adults and children have dramatically increased in the last 19 months.
Average time for
Bus journies to
Colchester
has increased.
I personally featured on the front page of a local newsparer
(Evening Gazette June 2005) explaining why it was impossible or difficult
for the elderly, the infirm or for young mothers/fathers to use Wivenhoe
Train station. There are
severe problems getting on and off the train going to
London
.
Plan
11.3b page125.
The
loss of parking spaces and its inconvenience to the residents/businesses
and community services is easy to understand.
Cars will have to move on and park somewhere else.
2
Traffic
Calming Park Road
Plan 11.3k page 126
Turning
right into
Park Road
from
Belle Vue
Road
there are No Waiting At Any Time
(Herewith referred to as Nowait) signage on
the left side leading to
Valley Road
.
On the right
side there are Nowait signs and
6 car parking spaces leading to
Rebow
Road
.
From
Belle Vue
Road
to
Valley Road
the road declines quickly and as
you turn left into
Valley Road
the road is very precipitous
indeed. The car parking
spaces at present are a calming measure.
I cannot emphasise enough my concerns about this.
Some vehicles will pick up speed imperceptibly and
go into
Valley Road
at a speed greater than they anticipate.
Young children use this route to go Millfield’s
Primary and
Junior
School
and older children use this
route to get contracted buses and coaches to The Colne
Community School. Plan
11.20—11.21—11.22 pages 129/130 under Safe Routes to School.
Apart
from my concerns for the safety of children these new arrangements will be
a concern for adults. Plan
T7a page134.
3
Traffic
Calming
Park
Hotel/High Street
.
Turning left into High Street from
Belle Vue
Road
there is Nowait
signage for approx 10 metres. There
are 2 parking spaces beyond this that the new T.R.Os.
are going to take away.
At present the parking spaces are a traffic calming measure.
Vehicles coming down The Avenue can pick up speed imperceptibly
because the road has an incline.
Plan 11.3k page 126. This
site is on a very complex junction with 5 roads converging on it. There is
also a zebra crossing. The 2
parking spaces help to keep a driver’s concentration when negotiating
the junction whether turning right into
Belle Vue
Road
or turning left into The High
Street.
There
is a local Hairdressing Business---H2o which is 4 car parking spaces away
and it may lose customers if they are unable to park close to the
Hairdressing Salon.
4
Methodist
Church
The Avenue Plan 8.4a
page 89---11.3g page125---CF3 page 92
The
Methodist
Church
in Wivenhoe
is over 100 years old. It is
a vibrant community in its own right.
It has a playgroup which has Ofsted
inspections. Parents may have
problems dropping off children at the playgroup.
The Church has Church business including
Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals. The Nowait
signage to be introduced will make life difficult for the Church.
Senior Citizens and people with temporary/permanent disabilities
use the Church. Nowait
signage outside the Church will mean they will be dropped off a little
distance from the Church and have further to walk.
5
Anglesea
Road/Queens Road/Valley Road
Plan
11.20—11.21 pages129/130---11.3k pages126.
Nowait
signage at the
Queens Road/Valley Road
junction will be introduced.
The traffic calming measures of parked cars will be taken away.
Under the T.ROs.
Queens Srteet will be cut off.
Cars coming down
Queens
road from
Anglesea
Road
(which is precipitous)
will “rat run” into
Valley Road
.
6
“Cutting
Off
Queens
Road
just below junction with
Valley
Road
---PlanT7g
page125---11.3h page 125---11.44 page135.
This
is the most controversial T.R.O. being introduced.
Planning consent for Cook’s Shipyard was granted in 2002 to Lexden
Restorations. It was partly
given as a result of a Traffic Flow Impact Survey undertaken by Lexden
Restorations which assumed that there were 3 access routes to the High
Street. Residents respectfully fail to understand why
Queens Road
is being “cut off.”
Lower Wivenhoe
has car problems already.
To cut off a road in general means that cars must
go elsewhere. To “cut off” Queens Road when there are 86 units
being built at Cook’s Shipyard and
when Queens Road is 1 of only 3 roads to give access to the High Street
seems unreasonable or as some of the residents who attended my
meetings said “it is
unfair”
There
are many young families
who live in and around
Valley Road
and they are concerned about the
increase in traffic vis a vis
their children’s safety.
Drivers
in
Lower Wivenhoe
use
Queens Road
in both directions to access
different areas in Wivenhoe.
The
Geography of Queens Road is unsuitable for
lorries
.
Residents must fear property damage, subsidence and feel insecure
about there physical well-being. It
is however, able to take cars. Signage,
denying access to
lorries
at the entrance to
Queens Road
from the High Street would, I
suggest, be a compromise that would please most residents in
Lower Wivenhoe
.
I think this would be preferable because it stops
lorries
entering
Queens Road
.
If
Queens Road
has a cut off near
Valley Road
lorries
would not know this until they
arrived at the cut off. They
would then have to reverse
With
reference to The Essex Guide for Residential Development.
The general assumption for new housing development is the principle
of Permeability which is of the opinion that it is fairer in general to
have as many possible routes
for Pedestrian and Vehicles in order to share out
disruption.
Thank
you for listening to my views and the views of the residents of Wivenhoe.
Councillor Steve
Ford
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