Parish Council Update – May 2019
Road Safety in the Village
A key part of the Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan (Policy C1) is road safety. As part of this the Parish Council has installed Vehicle Activated Signs (VAS) which show the driver how fast they are driving (as long as they are within 10 miles an hour of the speed limit) and remind speeding drivers to slow down. At the moment there is one on Northdown Road and one on Lunghurst Road. The WPC moves these signs as needed.
The signs serve two purposes. Firstly they help slow traffic and secondly they allow us to collect data to observe the speeding issue we have in the village. To share some initial statistics with you, the below shows a histogram of speeds at Northdown from 23rd March to end of April. There were 29,050 readings of car speeds as they approach the 30mph zone, over 13% of which were travelling at 45mph or above, with 12 readings above 70mph. It is very noticeable that the higher speeds occur between 11pm at night and 4am in the morning, with the 85th percentile speeds at those hours being materially above the speeds in the middle of the day. With this type of data we can show Surrey County Council the issues we face in Woldingham and thus encourage action to address them and keep us safe. We will be sharing more data with you in the coming months.
Please do all drive safely and at the right speed in the village. We all want to live in a safe environment.
Gas Mains Repairs and Shops in the Village
By now everyone is no doubt aware of the essential repairs to the gas mains on Station Road and the plans for additional gas mains works around the village once the Station Road work is done. Please see our Woldingham.com website for regular updates. The good news is that once Station Road works are completed, there will be no additional road closures. The bad news is that your local shops are suffering. Reduced access impacts traffic to shops and services on either side of the closed road. We all need, want and love our local shops. Having spoken to some of the local merchants, it is clear footfall is down. Please make the effort to frequent your local shops to ensure their continued health and existence in our lovely village.
Hedge Care – Again
As the high growth season for all our plants is upon us, please remember to keep your roadside plants and hedges trimmed back regularly. Once they overgrow, cutting them back healthily and attractively becomes more difficult. Vehicles – especially larger emergency vehicles — must be able to pass. And of course, once winter is back, the good care taken in the spring and summer will also ensure that the grit spreaders and snow ploughs can travel narrow roads and get round tight bends, enabling us to keep our roads clear and safe.
Deborah Sherry
Parish Councillor, Woldingham