Westfield Road update 8-3-2021

The information issued by Buckinghamshire Council following their dedicated Westfield Road meeting is replicated below:

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for attending the meeting held on 23rd February 2021 with regard to Westfield Road, and thank you also for your comments and for taking the time to feedback your concerns.

As promised, we have attached the presentation and answers to pre-submitted questions, along with answers for questions raised at the meeting. A full recording of the meeting will also be available in the next 48 hours.

To view please follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/BuckinghamshireCouncil/videos  

We hope you found the meeting informative with regards to the work that the Council is undertaking to remedy the situation and address resident concerns in line with legislative and regulatory requirements.

Thank you again for raising issues important to your local community, and thank you for your patience and understanding while we work to resolve them.

Kind Regards,

Katrina Kelly

Community Board Co-Ordinator for the Wing and Ivinghoe board

Localities & Strategic Partnerships Service Directorate

Buckinghamshire Council

Extract from the Parish Council draft minutes of the meeting held on 25-2-2021:

Buckinghamshire Council held two public meetings on 4 and 23 February 2021 to discuss the changes at Westfield Road.

Cllr Nicholls provided a summary on the latest information from Buckinghamshire Council along with legal details obtained by the Parish Council:

  • The Department for Transport provides guidance documents for councils to use when setting speed limits and installing signage. Although this is issued as guidance it carries a lot of legal weight and councils choosing to ignore it may face legal challenges and be made to defend their decisions in court.
  • The speed of a road is determined by the street scene / built environment and the signage must be installed to reflect this.
  • The signs had been incorrectly installed by TW many years ago.  Now that the Highways Authority have reviewed the road, they are legally obliged to remove any incorrect signage.  The parish council has checked this legal position and found it to be correct.
  • The signage installed at present is legal.  The signs cannot be relocated back to the gates, as this would make it illegal.  See above point.
  • Buckinghamshire Council has listened to the concerns raised by the Parish Council and residents and have agreed to install two additional lamp posts within the area of land where housing is set back (as part of the adoptions process).  This would mean this additional stretch (out to the approximate location of the badger sign) could be classified as a restricted road and therefore legally marked as 30mph.  This could be undertaken within the next 4-8 weeks (partly dependent upon connection lead times from UK Power Networks) and would also enable the signage to be relocated to this new point once the lights are in situ.
  • The 30mph sign currently installed will be replaced with larger signage on yellow background.   The gates will remain in situ and will not be moved to the new 30mph location.
  • Buckinghamshire Council has listened to the Parish Council’s request for additional measures as part of the adoptions process and agreed to install painted dragons’ teeth and 30mph roundels in the carriageway as countdown markers and to increase prominence. 
  • The proposed solution will provide drivers with a series of visual cues as they enter the residential section of Westfield Road (dragons teeth, gate, roundel, signage & lamp posts) vs the previous single point of 30mph sign on the gate which residents had previously advised was ineffective at reducing speeds.
  • Buckinghamshire Council has listened to the Parish Council’s request for them to prove whether their proposals are effective and agreed to install monitoring rubber strips across the carriageway once their proposed solution is installed.  This will provide accurate data about the speed of vehicles entering the residential zone.
  • Buckinghamshire Council has listened to the Parish Council’s request for potential additional speed mitigation measures for Westfield Road and offered to create a dedicated Community Board Subgroup to investigate options, should the above solution prove not to be effective.   NB This will not form part of the adoptions process.
  • A TRO (Traffic Regulation Order), if Buckinghamshire Council could be persuaded to apply for one, would take 12-18 months for formal consultation and holds no guarantees that the statutory consultees (e.g., Thames Valley Police and Road Haulage Association) would approve.
  • Residents were granted permission to speak relating to this issue. Mr Phillips expressed his ongoing concerns that the 30mph signs were not being relocated back to the gate. No other residents wished to speak relating to this matter.
  • It was RESOLVED to seek further clarification from Buckinghamshire Council on why further streetlights could not be installed right out to the gate and this will be passed to residents in due course.
  • It was noted that Buckinghamshire Council will provide a recording of the public meeting held on 23 February 2021 and a document detailing all the questions raised with their corresponding answers.  These will also be made available to residents in due course.
  • Three members of the public departed the meeting during the Westfield Road discussion.  One member of the public joined the meeting & then left again.

mVAS

  • The mVAS report 18/1/21 to 22/2/21 was discussed.  85th percentile = 34.8mph.  Average speed 29.6mph.  Following a request from a member of the public, it was RESOLVED to publish this report on the website.
  • The Parish Council has already lodged enquiries with Buckinghamshire Council regarding the possibility of a temporary mVAS location closer to the Warwick Road junction, and whether they might be willing to waive the normal site visit and application fees.  Response awaited.

Update note: the response to the question about street lighting out to the gate has been responded to by Buckinghamshire Council within the attached document.

Buckinghamshire Council confirmed at their meeting on 23-2-21 that they had placed the orders for the required works.

Attachment(s):

  1. https://pitstone.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Pitstone-FAQ-Final-draft02-03.pdf
  2. https://pitstone.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Westfield-Road-Speed-Limit_Final-including-pictures.pptx
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