LOCAL MP, Dr Andrew Murrison, is calling for developer, David Wilson Homes, to hand over Slag Lane in Westbury to Wiltshire Council, so the council can implement pedestrian safety measures on the road.
Residents have been calling for the council to install road calming measures to improve pedestrian safety in the area following incidents of pets being run over by speeding vehicles and near-misses with children playing outside, but the council cannot make any significant changes to the road until it formally adopts it.
A petition was launched in July calling for traffic calming measures to be put in place in the area, such as speed bumps or traffic islands, and it currently has 209 signatures. Andrew Murrison and the Westbury Mayor, cllr Mike Sutton, met concerned residents on site at Slag Lane last week to discuss how road safety can be improved.
“The road is well overdue for adoption by the highways authority,” said the MP. “I’ll get on the case with the developer and the council. Until Slag Lane’s formally adopted, it seems unlikely that substantial improvements can be made.
“In the meantime, there are some straightforward things like improving corner visibility [at the Frogmore Road junction] and safety railings, that residents would like to see. I’ll be investigating what can be done with the council.”
Speaking at a meeting of the town council’s highways, planning and development committee on Monday 21st August when the issue was raised prior to the site visit, cllr Sutton said, “We have suggested to the residents that we could install a speed indicator device to monitor cars that come down from Station Road which would flash up the oncoming car’s speed limit which should have some bearing.
“If we could get some kind of enforcement to stop vehicles coming from The Ham through the bus-only gate then that would be help. However, for us to consider things such as this we would need the road to be adopted by Wiltshire Council, and the road belongs to David Wilson Homes and we are still waiting to hear back from the letter we sent to them ten weeks ago. We can’t put anything on that road without the permission of the developer.”
Plans for Frogmore Road
As well as the concerns over pedestrian safety due to speeding vehicles on Slag Lane, residents have also raised concerns with pedestrian safety at the nearby Frogmore Road as there is no junction where the two roads meet and there is no pavement for walkers who are faced with vehicles speeding through the area as a cut-through.
Westbury Town Council is attempting to solve some of these issues and they have put forward plans to Wiltshire Council to create a pavement at Frogmore to improve pedestrian safety and to also narrow the road so that vehicles are more inclined to slow down.
David Wilson Homes has been approached for comment.
