Westbury Town Council is looking at possible solutions to traffic and parking ‘hotspots’ in the town.
The council’s highways, planning and development committee recently discussed several issues including speeding in Bratton Road and Wellhead Drove; parking problems in the Oldfield Park area and damages to a house by HGVs in Alfred Street.
Parking at Oldfield Park/ Oldfield Road and Queen’s Road
Councillors discussed possible ways to curb the parking and congestion situation for residents living in the Oldfield Park/Oldfield Road/ Queen’s Road area.
The town council agreed to proposals from Wiltshire Council’s principal traffic highways engineer that would see parking restrictions (no waiting at any time) on Queen’s Road near the Groves on the corners of the dropped curb and path crossing point, as well as parking restrictions (no waiting 8.30am -9.30am and 3pm to 4.pm) at Oldfield Park near the school.
The waiting restrictions would be enforced during school pick up and drop off times to prevent parking and congestion problems, but relaxed out of these hours so that they do not impact residents that need to park outside their houses after work or in the evening.
Cllr Mike Sutton, chair of HP&D said at the recent meeting, “We have it on good authority from the highways engineer that she will ensure there is some parking enforcement in the first few weeks during school times, just to make the message clearer.”
Councillors agreed to the proposals and the town council will be asked to contribute £600, which is 30% of the full cost (£3,000) of a traffic regulation order, if they are successful in their bid.
Bratton Road could become single carriageway
The town council has plans to make a section of Bratton Road a single carriageway with priority from the town centre in a bid to make the area safer for pedestrians and reduce speeding by motorists. Other improvements would include looking at widening the footpath and adding more signage and road markings.
Cllr Sutton said, “This is one of our more pressing issues and we hope this adjustment will reduce speeds through the section. It won’t stop idiot drivers racing to get to the priority section first, but it will protect pedestrians a little bit more.”
Cllr Ward Jones added, “This will protect pedestrians which is the priority here, but it may cause more issues for motorists because as soon as you exit that section out towards Bratton, you are met with a bunch of cars parked on the side.”
Cllr Gordon King added, “Ward is right – this may create some problems in the short term, but the point is that this is as far as Wiltshire Council are prepared to go in the short term. This may create further problems that force Wiltshire Council into readdressing the area and perhaps putting in place traffic lights.”
Councillors agreed to the proposals and the town council will match the funding by the Local Highway and Footway Improvement Group (LHFIG) of Wiltshire Council at a cost of £5,500 if successful in their bid.
30mph signs to be added to Newtown
30mph ‘roundel’ signs (speed limit signs on the road surface) could be added to the Newtown Road out of Westbury, towards the White Horse, as a way to manage vehicle movements on the popular route.
Councillors agreed to the proposals and the town council will contribute £90 to the full cost of £300 if successful in their bid.
Cllr Jane Russ said, “This won’t affect the boy racers at 2am, but it should help to curb speeding along that road.”
Wellhead Drove
The speed limit in Wellhead Drove, which is currently the national speed limit, has been reviewed by the principal traffic highways engineer. It has been proposed that an extension of the 30mph speed limit be made from the A350/Wellhead Drove junction, to include Wellhead Drove, with required signage.
Councillors agreed to the proposals and the town council will contribute £900, 30% of the full cost of £3,000, if successful in their bid.
Alfred Street
A resident of Alfred Street, whose wall has been knocked down by HGVs that are wrongly using the road to gain access to the A350, has had more incidents of her wall being hit – despite the installation of further road signs. The recommendation by Wiltshire Council is to install a rebound-able bollard that would work to protect the resident’s wall.
Cllr Sutton said, “To the best of my knowledge this wall has been knocked down four times now, if not more. The argument from the highways engineer is that a metal bollard would be too destructive.”
Cllr Hamilton-Sheen said, “I think a reboundable bollard is pretty useless – but we can try this bollard and if it doesn’t work, we can look at other options. The point is if we don’t try this, we won’t be allowed to move on to the next stage.”
Cllr King added, “The reason this is happening so much is that drivers are using sat-nav on their phone which actually routes them that way, rather than using the commercial routing system as it’s cheaper.”
Cllr Sutton said, “I’d loath not to go ahead with this as the poor lady on the corner of this street has had this happen so many times now; we need to be seen doing something to fix this issue.”
Councillors agreed to the proposals and the town council will contribute £90 to the full £300 cost of installation if they are successful in their bid.
Wiltshire Council’s local highway and footway improvement group will meet to discuss all of these proposals in July.
