Meole active travel consultation at Trinity Centre, Meole.
A consultation on road safety/active travel changes after several children were hit by cars.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 So the plans we're looking at here are for road safety improvements to Bank Farm Road,
00:05 which is the main thoroughfare through Radbrook Green.
00:08 Myself and Councillor Evans, who's the Shropshire Councillor for Radbrook,
00:13 have been very aware of road safety concerns all along there for the many years we've been in Radbrook.
00:19 These plans will make travelling around Radbrook and Bank Farm Road safer
00:26 for cyclists, pedestrians and road users as well
00:29 because it tries to separate them out.
00:31 At the moment, the cycleway and footpath along Bank Farm Road is shared.
00:38 These plans will provide a demarcation, so there will actually be a little curve along that cycle path
00:45 so the cyclists will be next to the road, well not on the road, but next to the road
00:49 and the pedestrians will be by the hedge along there.
00:52 We think that will make things a lot safer for everybody when it comes to active travel along Bank Farm Road.
00:58 Having had a good look at the plans so far, Chris, how do you feel about them?
01:03 Do you think they go far enough? Do you think they'll make a big impact on road safety?
01:07 Because it's been, as you say, a serious issue that there's been a lot of campaigning about.
01:13 There's been children hit by cars in this area and there's been a lot of worry among residents and parents.
01:19 So, first look, what do you reckon?
01:21 We think that it's not perfect, but we think that it's 75-80% there.
01:27 We are reasonably happy with these.
01:29 They are using what's called LTN 120, which are guidelines to do with active travel.
01:36 They're using those as guidelines and they don't quite comply with them all the way,
01:41 but it is certainly, in our eyes, a vast improvement on what's there now and it will make things safer.
01:47 Along with the vehicle activated signs, which were installed on Bank Farm Road last year and which are working,
01:53 we think that has already brought down road speeds for vehicles along there.
01:57 And we think these improvements, which hopefully will get funding at some point,
02:02 we think this will make a big difference as well.
02:04 So, Phil, can you tell us, is any of this definitely going ahead?
02:09 Is any of this consultations?
02:12 Yes, so Roman Road Island we're consulting on, but we do have the build budget for that.
02:17 And same with the crossings at Sweet Lake Meadow, that crossing is being built as well.
02:22 The Bank Farm Road, that is, we had money from Active Travel England to draw up a detailed design just pre-construction.
02:31 And our next action is, if the community support it, we'll go back to Active Travel England or another grant provider
02:37 and say, this is a fully designed scheme, here's the exact construction costs,
02:42 here's the opinion of the locals, here's the opinion of the users, please give us the build costs.
02:48 So, having the community on board is really key because they want the grant providers to know that it's not just the council imposing a design,
02:56 it's actually something we've worked on with the community for four, five years, I think.
03:02 Two and a half years, yeah.
03:04 I was going to say, it's been a little while in the making, this, hasn't it?
03:07 It takes a long time, unfortunately.
03:09 It started off with just the meetings and we got a few things very quickly in, some things took longer,
03:15 it takes a while to get the grant built up, to get the money and then to design it.
03:20 We didn't want to do something cheap and quick, we wanted to do something long-lasting
03:25 and that's going to be really good quality for the children because we've got 3,000 kids going over many different schools.
03:33 We've got the new school being built up in Swintonpipe Way and that's expanding,
03:38 there's more development planned around here, we need to future-proof it.
03:42 So along with a lot of education that we're going to be doing with the schools, this as well will allow them to have a nice piece of infrastructure.
03:50 We're doing some planting, we're going to do some new lighting, just make it feel very nice.
03:55 Okay, so this is Angela Warren from Radbrook Road Safety.
04:00 Angela, you've had a look at the plans so far for road safety and active travel improvements in the Mearland and Radbrook area.
04:09 What do you think?
04:11 Amazing.
04:12 Really? You're happy with them so far?
04:14 Really good, really happy with the crossings, bus stops being moved, cycle lanes, really good.
04:22 As we were saying to Fionn before, it's been quite a long time in the making this and you've been campaigning for a good while.
04:31 Where were your main concerns initially?
04:33 Because obviously there's so many kids coming and going from these schools and there's been multiple kids involved in accidents, including your son.
04:41 The speeding, getting the speeding down.
04:44 But I think with all the crossings and the race tables that they've planned, it's going to reduce speed hopefully
04:51 and try and keep the kids off the roads, more onto cycle paths.