Bishampton & Throckmorton Parish Plan

Roads

The Issues

Actions

The Issues

All the roads in Bishampton and Throckmorton are class ‘C’. Most of the lanes are in poor repair with a patchwork of potholes and worn out surfaces: particularly sections of Hill Furze Road, running between Bishampton and Fladbury Hill; and most of Long Lane and Throckmorton Road. The County Council admits a history of underinvestment in country roads. The roads authority says budgets have now been increased but many say it is too little, too late.

Photo 5: Deteriorating road surfaces

The issues of the airfield development, landfill site and HGV’s on local roads are linked. The lorries going to and from the various businesses on the airfield contribute significantly to a disproportionate number of HGVs on the local lanes, particularly through Long Lane and Throckmorton, but also coming through Bishampton. A proposal has existed since the construction of the Wyre Piddle by-pass for an access road to be constructed linking the by-pass to the landfill site via George Lane in Wyre Piddle.

In the initial ‘Hot Topics’ Questionnaire the state of the roads attracted the third highest number of comments; almost entirely complaints.

People were very dissatisfied with the state of repair of the local roads. Surfaces have deteriorated considerably over the last few years due to lack of effective repair and the situation is exacerbated by increasing HGV movements.

Respondents were concerned about speeding traffic in the villages both from private cars and HGV movements. Some called for traffic calming measures in the villages.

Some respondents wanted to see more restrictions on HGV movements on local roads.

Respondents commented on the lack of gritting of roads in icy conditions. There is widespread grumbling, irritation and sometimes outright anger over the state of the roads.

The Parish Plan survey asked respondents to comment in more detail on these issues.

90% of people said the state of the roads is unacceptable or poor, whilst over 75% thought that winter maintenance was poor or worse. Over 50% say the state of the pavements is poor or unacceptable.
More than 70% of people said they would like stronger measures to control speeding on the roads. In Bishampton there was strong support for stricter controls on illegal parking – over 70%. Not surprisingly this was not the case in Throckmorton where opinion was fairly evenly divided between those in favour and those neutral, probably because there are no shops or amenities to cause significant parking congestion.
Overall, about 50% of people were worried about HGVs using the lanes: in Throckmorton this concern was greater.
In Bishampton, less than 40% were concerned at the overall levels of traffic in contrast to Throckmorton, where 60% were concerned.

At the consultation meetings about the Wychavon District’s Local Plan, people had been asked to indicate their support or otherwise for construction of the George Lane link. One hundred percent of respondents wanted a link road to the landfill site. There was disagreement, however, as to whether it should extend further than that, and if so by how much. The table below shows the distribution of views as to how far the link road should extend. As can be seen the majority wanted the link to extend as far as the science park, should that be developed, but go no further. However, there were also views, that it should not go that far, and on the other hand, that it should go even further and be extended as far as Long Lane.

		Percentage of respondents
Should a new road from the Wyre Piddle Bypass be built, and if so how far should it extend?	Not be built	0
	Only to the Landfill Site but no further	28
	Only to the ECON11 Development but no further	53
	All the way to Long Lane	16

Table 2: Results of consultation meetings about the link road

Action

The maintenance of the roads is outside the remit of the Parish Council, and is the responsibility of the Highways Agency, part of Worcestershire County Council. The results of the parish survey make road maintenance and traffic control a Parish Plan guideline. Specifically the following actions:

Maintaining and increasing the pressure on the Highways Agency regarding the upkeep of the roads. Conveying to Highways Agency the strength of opinion demonstrated in the Parish Plan about the state of the roads.

Action: Parish Council, local District and County Councillors to keep in the attention of the County Council.
The improvement of strategic roads in poor weather conditions.

Action: Parish Council will liaise with the County Council.
Increased monitoring and reporting of poor road condition.

Action: Parish Council and residents.
Increased control of illegal parking, speeding and the movement of large vehicles through the villages.

Action: The Parish Council in liaison with the Police.
The reduction in the volume of HGV traffic particularly in Throckmorton village and Long Lane which are badly affected.

Action: Liaison with local businesses. Some have, in the past, been very cooperative in re-directing their drivers to more suitable routes.

The Parish Council will continue to explore ways of reducing the impact on affected households and has supported the development of the George Lane link in respect of the ECON11 proposal but has opposed it joining up with Long Lane.