Issue - meetings

This petition of 100+ signatories was submitted by Patrick Leaney.

The full petition and response are attached.

PETITION 3 - MAKE THAMES STREET SAFER AND PRESERVE OUR HERITAGE

1.         install a speed camera on Thames Street

2.         smooth the on/off ramps of the speed bumps (not remove them) to reduce reverberation and harm to the heritage buildings in the street

Thames Street runs through the Conservation Area and has over thirty 18th and 19th century Grade II listed buildings, many of which are homes. Even with speed bumps many vehicles go through the street well above the 20mph speed limit:

1.            The narrowness of the pavement and road make this a serious accident waiting to happen.

2.            Buses (11 plus tonnes) and occasional heavier vehicles cause substantial shuddering of the heritage buildings:

·                     this shuddering is significantly worse when their speed approaches and exceeds 20 mph

·                     a bus which gets slowed by 2 mph on a steep ramp causes similar reverberations to an average car running into a brick wall at 30 mph

·                     over 90 buses go down Thames Street each day.

3.            The speed bump ramps are too steep and do not comply with TfL's recommendations for buses.

The existing 7.5 tonnes vehicle weight limit already recognises the impact which heavy vehicles have along Thames Street. The buses are exempt, which we fully support, as they serve a vital service to the community.

The speed camera will ensure tight adherence to the speed limit making it a safer place for residents and pedestrians and this, along with the smoothing of the speed bumps, will preserve the heritage of the buildings.

Submitted by: Patrick Leaney

Signatures: 100+

Cabinet Member Response:

Many thanks for raising your concerns over speeding and road safety on Thames Street Lower Sunbury. I very much sympathise with the concerns being raised. Excess speeds increase the risk of road collisions and make the consequences worse. Higher speeds also make places less pleasant to live in by increasing noise and air pollution and making walking and cycling less attractive.

To tackle this Surrey County Council works closely with Surrey Police to create local speed management plans for each District or Borough. This means that whenever there are concerns over speeding, we will measure the speeds using a speed detection radar box which is a black box mounted on street furniture without anyone really knowing what it is or what it is for. This will collect data for at least a week. This data is combined with data on the collisions resulting in personal injury recorded by the police to ascertain the extent and nature of the speeding and road safety problem at each site.

Each site is then discussed with the police to determine which sites need the most attention, and then depending on the nature of the problem and the physical characteristics of the site the most appropriate intervention is agreed.

Interventions could include permanent speed cameras (including average speed cameras) at the worst sites where traffic calming is infeasible, traffic calming, police enforcement (either by hand-held laser or camera van), vehicle activated signs or  ...  view the full decision text for item 3c