Safer Routes to Schools – Part Three – emails from “BiggleswadeUpstart”.

These were sent to various recipients at Central Bedfordshire Council:

8^th December 2010

"Having been to the exhibition in the library today I have to say that I was impressed with the concept and the officer responsible for the proposal is very receptive to constructive observation; unlike the nonsense that we see in a related letter in the last issue of the Chronicle on the subject from one of your fellow councillors.

The officer concerned is well aware that this is just part of the problem but it is coherent with the junction proposal.

It is nonsense to believe that an extension of the 20mph limit will reduce the town centre flow; it cannot.  With the town centre at 20 the proposal will serve to slow the approaching traffic and so minimize bunching; as we see on the M25 with the congestion speed limits - just a different scale but same concept. In any case, there will be a need to slow down for the approach to the Baulk roundabout so it is sensible that the speed reduction is imposed by physical means as the existing town centre 20 limit would be ignored when there is a clear road if it was not for the raised speed pads.

Of course this idea was being formulated before the councillors at CBC decided to do away with 'lollipop ladies' so this measure will go part way to mitigate that decision.  It does nothing for the potentially lethal situation at the location of other crossing patrols; I am thinking especially those serving Edward Peake across Potton Road near the school (one that my 11 year-old grandson will have to negotiate and gives me grave concern in part due to the high speed that so many idiots insist on driving at along there) and the other is across Drove Road where the footpath links the east/west route. 

We should be lobbying hard to see these essential services retained; they are NOT a luxury.  If just one child is injured as a result of there being no crossing then I sincerely hope that the Chairman of the committee who made the decision to dispense with their services ends up in court.

Neither is there any form of crossing to serve Shortmead Street east/west at its northern end near the exit from St Andrews school; but that is not the fault of the designer of this proposal.   What we are lacking is a 'whole town' plan for school safety that provides the solutions for all the problems; they don't have to be implemented simultaneously so long as a timetable is given.


I shall be supporting this proposal and I would hope that all those who do respond to the on-line survey to ensure there is a balanced view.  There are on-line plans apparently and I am just heading off to find them as there are no hand-outs in the library." 

 8^th December 2010

It was good to talk to you in Biggleswade library today.

The only relevant drawing seemingly available through the Central Beds web site in connection with the above is:

101129 - London Road, Biggleswade, 20mph zone extents_tcm5-34824.pdf

(what terrible forming of a file name with spaces in it instead of underscores!)

I am looking at http://tinyurl.com/257kg7z

Please ensure that ALL the pertinent drawings are added into the on-line consultation process to ensure that everyone has the opportunity of being equally appraised of the situation.

I have received some information that has perhaps been withheld from the public consultation, perhaps I simply missed it. I refer to a notion that the carriageway is proposed to be reduced in width by one third on the town side of the London Road/Baulk junction outside the florists.  This is NOT shown on the only drawing available to the public under this heading.  Surely all the junction drawings should be in the same place as one without part of the plan does not work without the other.  I refer to the two projects; the safe route and the roundabout.

 10^th December 2010.

Thank you for drawing 400616-TC-001 and the commitment that all the relevant drawings will be placed on the CBC web site.

I have studied this one drawing in detail and what I see horrifies me.  I have no option but to withdraw my support for the proposal that I saw in the library on Wednesday and, therefore, the entire package. It is now clear that this has been bound together as one hence, despite my approval of having a roundabout and reducing the traffic speed prior to it to 20mph there are too many aspects that are unacceptable.

1.  The removal of the straight-line running of what is after all the Great North Road relief route; the only route that Asda lorries are permitted to use to and from the store, the route taken by bus services (and will increase as the eastern development takes place), the route taken by Plasmor and Mountstar trucks plying between the station yard and the A1 south; plus the many other HGVs, is reason enough to reject this design as totally inappropriate.

2.  The removal of the only means of semi-safe crossing from the Stratton House Hotel to the Red Lion side of The Baulk is totally unacceptable.  This should be enhanced, not removed.

3.  The lack of intent to deliver a whole and coherent package of Safer Routes to School is becoming clearer to me and needs to be addressed as a whole and with all the situations taken account of.  If the CBC proposal to remove the 'lollipop ladies' goes ahead there are road crossings that have a much higher priority than for Stratton pupils; I am thinking of Edward Peake.  These are the youngest age group that usually walk on there own to school; from the age of 9 and they cross at two of the most dangerous points in town.  The first is on Potton Road shortly after the theoretical speed reduction from 40 to 30mph; this is a joke in reality and no amount of occasional vehicle-based speed cameras is going to stop it.  The second is on Drove Road where the crossing point is close to a most dangerous bend and where the vast majority of vehicles persistently exceed the speed limit.

4.  I have examined in the closer detail the height of the 'speed bumps'; they are unacceptable for a frequent bus service route; a relief route for the A1; a key route for emergency services and the progress of heavy goods vehicles; especially the unloaded ones heading for Plasmor and Mountstar.

It is essential that you listen to what the people who live in this town know about the way the town works; none of your design based on text-book theory alone will work so long as you people persist in believing you know best; the people of this town are sick and tired of this breed of arrogance.  How many of you who are working on this project, and all the others for the town, live here; none that I have met so far!

I feel I was mislead in the Biggleswade library as these design features were not drawn to my attention; they were simply left for one to identify on a 'wall' of drawings.

This entire communication is my the formal objection to these plans to Transportation Manager, Bedfordshire Highways, Woodlands Annex, Manton Lane, Bedford MK41 7NU.

I look forward to a much higher level of option-based consultation in the future and will be conveying my views to as many people as I can in order that they may have additional information on which to make their own judgement.