DAVID Wilson Homes (DWH) says it expects Slag Lane to be handed over to Wiltshire Council by August/September next year which means any plans to improve road safety are at least a year away.
Residents have been calling for road safety measures to be installed in the area for years, to improve pedestrian safety following incidents of pets being run over by speeding vehicles and near-misses with children playing outside. As the road has not fully been handed over to Wiltshire Council, who is in charge of highway maintenance, the developer is responsible for the road and Wiltshire Council is unable to install any kind of road safety measures until it is responsible.
Although Wiltshire Council has adopted the road from DWH, Slag Lane remains the responsibility of the developer who says they are waiting for Wiltshire Council to sign off on recent works to the road, which is expected to be finalised in August/September of next year.
A Barratt David Wilson Homes South West spokesperson said, “As part of our development off Slag Lane, Westbury, improvements to the existing bus route and Slag Lane infrastructure were identified. This includes a roundabout at the junction of Station Road/Slag Lane, widening of Slag Lane to accommodate two-way traffic and a footpath running the northern side of Slag Lane. In addition, we also provided junctions to roads which lead into the development. All streetlighting, road markings and standard signage for the development were all approved by Wiltshire Council.
“These works have been signed off. They’re currently under a 12-month maintenance period, after which Wiltshire Council will inspect them again and conclude our S278 agreement. The maintenance period will conclude in May 2024 when inspections will follow and we anticipate the agreement will finally conclude and the final certificate issued around August/September 2024.
“We’re unable to amend the highways that have been agreed without the consent of Wiltshire Council. Road safety audits undertaken on this scheme, reviewed by the council, haven’t identified any need for traffic calming measures. Should Wiltshire Council decide that further measures are necessary on safety grounds, we’d be happy to install them.”
Residents have said that the road should have been handed over to Wiltshire Council years ago following the completion of the development, but DWH says there was a delay due to complications surrounding cracking on the road surface.
A DWH spokesperson continued, “Slag Lane is part of Wiltshire Council’s highway network and is maintained at public expense, as was the case prior to our development. Our responsibilities as a developer, concerning Slag Lane and the infrastructure amendments, are outlined in our signed S278 Agreement with Wiltshire Council and the associated approved drawings. These documents specify the works completed by DWH and the infrastructure upgrades made. DWH remains responsible for maintaining these elements until Wiltshire Council issues a final certificate of adoption, as stipulated in our S278 agreement.
“There is no exact timeframe associated with how quickly a road may or may not become adopted. Numerous reasons on any particular scheme may influence the time taken to achieve adoption. In this instance, the progression to adoption was halted for a period of time while our engineers investigated and liaised with Wiltshire Council and its own appointed engineers to find an agreeable solution to the longitudinal cracking.
“We are now pleased to announce that this remediation, along with other minor works, have been completed and approved by Wiltshire Council. The maintenance period we are currently in is not an additional requirement and is the standard requirement of most S278 Agreement once a Provisional Certificate of Completion has been issued.”
