Streets4All Stoke Golding Traffic Survey Results

Thank you to everybody who recently took part of the Stoke Golding traffic perceptions survey. It has taken a while longer than we hoped to publish the results and because of the issue around the solar farm we have deferred meeting the Parish Council until 9th Jan 2013. We will report the outcome of this meeting in a future blog post. But on to the results of the survey ...

A random sample of Stoke Golding residents were asked whether they strongly agreed, agreed, were neutral , disagreed or strongly disagreed with the following statements:

1. I support the vision for Stoke Golding streets

2. Traffic volume is an issue within the village

3. Traffic speed is an issue within the village

4. I support the introduction of a 20 mph speed limit throughout the village

Our Vision

We have a vision of people friendly streets which are attractive and where young and old feel safe; where drivers behave responsibly and where people are happy to walk and cycle. We want our streets to be alive and vibrant where people can live and socialise.

We had a fantastic response. 150 households were surveyed and we achieved returns from 124 households (83% response rate) and 209 residents. Statistically this ensures that the results are representative of all residents plus or minus 5%. We would like to thank residents for taking the time to complete the survey and for both their written and verbal comments.

The results are compelling. The graph opposite shows the count of how residents responded to each statement. The standout is how strongly residents identified speed as an issue and supported both the vision and the introduction of 20 mph limits. There is still significant concern over traffic volume, but this is clearly considered a lesser issue than speed.

The counts were translated into agree, neutral and disagree percentages and are shown in the table below.

Statement	agree	neutral	disagree
1. Vision	77%	16%	7%
2. Volume	60%	19%	22%
3. Speed	76%	12%	12%
4. 20 mph	67%	11%	22%

So the residents of Stoke Golding have had their say and have told us loud and clear that speed is a significant issue and they want vehicles to drive more slowly, specifically at no more than 20 mph. We must respond to that mandate. Specifically we intend to push forward for the introduction of a village wide "sign only" 20 mph limit. The next step is to get the support of the Parish Council.

Watch this space for developments ...

20 mph speed limits FAQs

We hope you will find the necessary information to make an informed judgement about whether 20 mph limits are a "good thing" for Stoke Golding. These are some of the questions we have heard when talking to others. You may also like to look at this previous post which makes the case http://sgstreets.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/20s-plenty-campaign-launched.html 

You will also find further reading here ... http://sgstreets.blogspot.co.uk/p/20-mph-reading.html

Why?

Why do you want to do this?

Our long term aim is that we want our streets to be a pleasant environment where we feel safe and where we can live, play and socialise. We want to be able to travel on foot or by bike if we choose. Calming traffic speed is crucial to this long term aim. Lower speeds have been shown to reduce accidents (and their severity) and at the same time they make for a more pleasant environment.

Will a 20mph speed limit make any difference?

This we know is a big challenge as it is about behaviours and culture as enforcement is very difficult. As more and more 20mph limits are introduced across the country it will start to become normal behaviour, but this will take time. In the short term, evidence in other areas shows signing alone will reduce average speeds but perhaps by 5 or 6 mph rather than 10 mph. We aim to support implementation with an awareness and education campaign – we are hopeful that we can persuade most local residents to drive at this speed.

Why Stoke Golding?

Stoke Golding is increasingly becoming a “rat run” particularly during the rush hours (you only have to look at Hinckley Road or Station Road). The planned major housing development at Barwell could make this significantly worse. We want these drivers to behave responsibly with respect for our village and residents. Traffic speeds particularly on the main thoroughfares remain very high as reported by residents and evidenced through the 2009 Speedwatch survey. Traffic was identified as a significant issue in the last village survey in 2007 - we don't believe much has changed since

Why now?

Recent changes to government guidance and legislation make it much easier to implement 20 mph limits. The tide is turning and 20 mph will start to become the norm where people live. We want to make sure that Stoke Golding is at the front of the queue.

Where can I find out more information?

There is a lot of good information on the internet. The “20s is plenty for us” website is a good place to start. We have tried to pull together what we consider to be some of the better references on our blog here http://sgstreets.blogspot.co.uk/p/20-mph-reading.html

Implementation

Do you have the support of the Parish Council and Leicestershire Highways?

We have spoken to the Parish Council on more than one occasion. They want to see that there is a mandate for this in the village. They are supportive of us carrying out the survey and have given an undertaking to listen to the views expressed by residents. We have also spoken to our County Councillor Ivan Ould who takes a similar position.

At this stage we have not spoken to Highways as we want to do this from a position of strength (i.e. with a mandate). We expect resistance, but mostly about funding . We will point out to them that government guidance asks them to consider implementing 20mph limits where people live, and we will want to explore ways in which implementation might be achieved.

How do you implement a 20 mph limit?

First of all a RTO (Road Traffic Order) is required to legally change a speed limit. Then it is just a question of signing. Signing is required at the start and end of the limit and then repeater signs are required at intervals along each street. Traffic calming is not required.

What does it cost and how would it be funded?

No two implementations are the same. However costs for other schemes have typically worked out between £2-4 per resident. As noted earlier this does not feature in LCCs current funding plan. However they have a 3 year rolling plan that is updated annually. Experience of other groups has been that money can be found if there is strong public and political support. Other County Councils (e.g. Cambridgeshire) have supported an approach whereby the local community raises the required funds and they implement the scheme.

Survey

How have you chosen who to survey?

We have all the addresses within Stoke Golding and have then randomly chosen 120 households to survey. Depending on the number of returns this should statistically give us around 95% confidence in the results

Why are you only surveying adults?

We would liked to have included children in the survey – in many ways they are more impacted by traffic speed than adults. However from a practical point of view we do not know how many children live in the village but we do know how many electors there are. By restricting the survey to adults we are able to statistically validate the results.

We would love to hear the views of children though (just email or phone) and would like to get them involved in our campaign. Later we would like to engage with children through schools and other community groups.

What happens next?

When we have collected the survey returns we will publish summary results on our blog. We aim to go to the December Parish Council meeting to present the results. If there is a clear mandate we will then be looking to meet with Highways to present our case. We will use our blog (and the Stoker) to keep people up to date with developments.

Parish Council give their support for 20mph survey

We went along to the October Parish Council to discuss our plans to survey the village regarding support for 20 mph speed limits. We are pleased to say that we left with support for the process and an undertaking to take on board the views that are expressed by residents.

We are finalising the survey now. Our plan is to distribute these wc 29th October and collect responses door to door the 2 weeks commencing 5th November. So hopefully we will have results to publish towards the end of November 2012.

20s plenty campaign launched

Since presenting our vision at the Annual Parish Meeting way back in March we have been struggling to work out how to engage with more villagers and what we should tackle as a first step towards our vision.

We have decided to campaign for a blanket 20mph speed limit within the village. We believe that reducing traffic speeds is key to achieving our vision. In addition this is nothing new - there is ever increasing public and legislative support for 20mph speed limits in urban areas where people live. It remains to be seen if there will be the same levels of support within the village - more of this later.

We intend to join up with the national 20s Plenty For Us campaign as this will give us access to proven resources and expertise. There are now 150 campaigns across the country ranging from city wide initiatives to smaller villages like ourselves. We have already learnt a lot by talking to them. It you are interested I would recommend perusing their website. The "Why" and "20mph facts" pages are good starting points.

The case for 20mph limits is compelling. Lower accident rates and the consequences of accidents are less severe. Most children hit by a car at 20mph make a full recovery - sadly this is not the case at 30mph. As traffic speeds drop people feel more confident to walk and cycle and this in terms brings health benefits. With lower speeds, streets generally become a more pleasant environment to be in. Neighbours can stop and chat to each other without being drowned out by car noise. Children can get around with less parental supervision.

Recent surveys indicate that over 80% of people support 20mph limits (without humps) for residential roads so there is clear public support. Recent government guidance recommends local authorities consider implementing 20mph limits in urban areas where people live. To support this guidance, changes to legislation make 20mph limits simpler and cheaper to implement - a city wide implementation in Porstmouth cost just £333 per street.

We need to know how Stoke Golding residents feel about this. During October we will be conducting a survey of approx 120 households (about 15%). Hopefully we will get a positive response which will give necessary mandate to move the campaign forward and persuade Councillors and local authorities. We aim to publish the results towards the end of October.

We would love to get some more people involved. If you care enough please contact Alan White alanwhitesg@gmail.com

Convent Corner Design Approved

I understand that the detailed design for the proposed new junction at Convent Corner has now been approved. This has been discussed at length in earlier posts. So it would seem that despite concerns and representations from both St Martins School and the Parish Council only very limited changes have been made to the design.
I for one am very frustrated by the whole process and the failure of the local authority to properly listen to local concerns.

In particular I remain very concerned about sight lines from the proposed pedestrian crossing. I have asked the council for evidence that the crossing meets the relevant national standards. I will post again when I have a response.

Lowering speed limits consultation - have your say

Many of you will have seen in the news (see Independent reporting for example) that there are proposals to give local authorities more scope to introduce 20mph limits in residential areas and also reduced speed limits on rural roads.

At this time the guidance issued by the dft is in draft form and is out for public consultation
https://consultation.dft.gov.uk/dft/speed-limit-circular this web page has a link to the draft proposal and a link allowing you to express your views. The consultation is open to 5th October 2012.

I have had a look at the proposals and in the context of our village and our aims have drawn out the following key points

1. Speed limits should be evidence based and must consider a number of factors (e.g. accident rates, use by vulnerable users, road purpose, communities)
2. It recognises the need for the limit to be reflective of the road condition (e.g. road geometry) and the purpose. It does not talk much about calming, but does recognise that factors other than speed limits need to be considered in managing traffic speed.
3. There is talk of balancing the needs of non motorised road users and many references to considering the needs of vulnerable road users (e.g. cyclists, pedestrians). They also want to encourage more walkers and cyclists.
4. There is recognition that roads also serve the needs of local communities and residents.
5. As regards 20mph limits there seems to be more of a leaning towards zones (requires calming measures) rather than limits. It suggest 20mph limits alone are only effective where speeds are already not more than 24mph
6. For rural roads there is a useful guidance table. From my interpretation this would certainly result in lower recommended speed limits for the approach roads into Stoke Golding.
7. They are currently developing an online tool (Road Appraisal Tool) to help local authorities assess the costs and benefits of proposed schemes

The guidance says little about the process for reviewing speed limits - i.e. when and how does a speed limit get reviewed? The text says "Traffic authorities are asked to:
- keep their speed limits under review with changing circumstances;
- consider the introduction of more 20 mph limits and zones, over
time, in urban areas, to ensure greater safety for pedestrians and cyclists, using the criteria in Section 6
It also says that "local residents may also express their concerns or desire for a lower speed limit and these comments should be considered". .There does not appear to be any specific funding or any specific timescales

I would encourage readers to review the proposals and submit their own consultation comments.

The Street Carpet that never was

The prototype

 So after weeks of planning and preparation the Stoke Golding Street Party became a Village Hall Party due to a very rainy and miserable day. Upwards of 200 people were shoehorned into the Village Hall with "the club" providing an overflow for maybe another 100 people. We all had a great time, but just not the day that we had planned.

Sawdust dying / drying

Raw sawdust

Obviously the Street Carpet did not go ahead so I am now stuck with a shed full of sawdust wondering what to do. I had pinned great hopes on the Street Party to engage with a lot of villagers about our Sreets4All campaign using the Street Carpet as a talking point. I am struggling to think how we can move this forward now.

Stencilled diamond

Of course the Olympics starts end of July. Sun 5th August is in the middle and 100m finals day - what be a great day for a Street Party, but could we mobilise people for a second attempt I wonder!

Hinckley Road Street Carpet

Just a few days to go now until the Stoke Golding Street Party. Hinckley Road will be closed from 11:00 - 16:00 and we are hoping for a fine day and lots of people.

We are planning to construct a sawdust street carpet across the road just by Thornfield Road. This is a natural crossing place for children visiting the "rec". We wanted to mock up a crossing to create a talking point for our Streets4All initiative, but we also wanted a fun activity for children to help construct on the day. The idea for a sawdust street carpet came from sawdust street carpets that are constructed for holy week in some South American countries have a look here. Our proposed design is somewhat less elaborate, but there again we will only have a few hours to work on it.

Its proved difficult to work out how to construct a sawdust street carpet, but I have found a source of cheap sawdust and been experimenting. The flag will have to be done freehand, then we have tile templates which we can move around to construct the main area filling in "grout lines" as we go. We have cardboard templates for diamonds, crowns, queens head and footprints that children should be able to help with. I have used simple poster paints to dye the sawdust with mixed results - the lighter colours do not work too well and the the blue is rather green. Here is a bit of a test with the union flag - pretty pleased really.

I am hoping for a dry windless day although I have sprayers and watering can to damp it all down. Could all be a disaster, we can but try though. Watch this space to see how it all worked out.

Convent Corner Safety Audit

Well the safety audit has been carried out now and Mar City have tweaked the design but this I'm afraid has done little to allay concerns about safety. The key concern remains the proposed crossing which has poor visibility from the north side looking towards Dadlington.

Inexplicably the audit was not taken during morning on afternoon school start / end times and consequently reported "low vehicle flows / speeds (based upon the site visit)". Anybody who has visited at morning or evening rush hours knows this is anything but the case. Surely at least the safety auditors would have access to traffic flow information.

Some safety issues were identified in the report and in response Mar City are proposing the following modifications to the design:
1) There are now 'build outs'/ deflections incorporated into the roundabout. (this is just white paint on the road surface)
2) The roundabout is domed, to force deflection around the roundabout, which slows vehicles.
3) There is now a 'build out'/ tightened junction on the exit from the development, which will slow traffic exiting the site.(again this is just painted)
4) Beige anti-skid surfaces have been incorporated into the approaches.
5) Thermoplastic rumble strips have been incorporated, on the antiskid surface, approaching from Dadlington (this was not called for in the report)

The school have written to Highways expressing their ongoing concerns.

Convent Corner

"Convent Corner"

Local readers will know that Mar City have planning permission for 59 new homes on the old convent site behind Saint Martins school and indeed work has now started. The access arrangements for the new site are to the side of the school just off the road to Dadlington. This access arrangement creates many challenges because of the proximity to the school and also the proximity to the already dangerous T junction between Stoke Road / Hinckley Road - know locally at "Convent Corner". The access plans were approved at planning stage (I raised concerns to no avail). These plans included the provision of a new pedestrian crossing and a mini roundabout.

Convent Corner Proposal

The junction and crossing are less than ideal for many reasons:

• the poor visibility from the inside bend of the proposed pedestrian crossing towards Dadlington. Many school children cross here and speeding traffic is a known issue;
• the sweeping geometry and lack of deflection in the approaches to the mini roundabout which means cars car can travel through the junction at speed - a particular danger to two wheeled vehicles and users of the pedestrian crossing;
• the proximity of the crossing to the new site access and the mini roundabout.

In addition to safety aspects, the design treats the junction as a highway rather than as a residential street and an access to the village. A more imaginative and softer design could send messages to drivers that this is a "place", not a highway which evidence shows would introduce some natural calming.

Convent Corner with "tighter" geometry

Myself, the school and the Parish Council have been making representations to Mars City and Highways in an attempt to come up with an improved design which addresses the safety concerns and also also looks more pleasant. We have made suggestions to "tighten" the junction geometry (to slow cars) - see sketch to left.

We have also suggested the use of different textures / surfaces to create a streetscape more in keeping with a village. Look at before and after pictures of a street in Bath to understand what I mean.

Julian Road, Bath before and after

To me there is a lack of real design thought. It seems they have come up with the cheapest design possible and are not looking for the best solution.Whilst they are listening to us, we have not as yet achieved ANY changes.

The detailed design has now been submitted for Section 278 approval which is a legal agreement to undertake work on the highways. As part of the Section 278 approval an independent safety audit will be undertaken. This will assess the safety of the proposed design. We have made our safety concerns known to Highways and hope that we can achieve some safety improvements through this process.

Watch this space

Streets 4 All at the Annual Parish Meeting

Alan White presented his vision for Stoke Golding streets at the Annual Parish Meeting on 26th April 2012. Around 25 people listened to the presentation which was well received. There was a general consensus that there is a problem and good support for the vision. There was some discussion over what should and should not be done and some scepticism about the ability to get change implemented.
The notion of relocating the war memorial to the centre of the village was discussed. This would help create a sense of place and would be a visible demonstration that change is possible. This would help build momentum for the initiative.

Brian Ninness and Ruth Fisher kindly agreed to be involved - we need more people.

View the presentation (without the slideshow)

Stoke Golding Streets 4 All blog launched

DIY Streets

We are now starting to get some traction for our initiative to make the streets of Stoke Golding a better place to live. We are also accumulating quite a lot of information so time for a blog that we can use for discussion and to share information. Check out the reference page for a wealth of resources that can be used to support our campaign. Do add your comments and feedback or better still still why not join us?

Reclaim our streets

Inspired by campaigns such as Sustrans "Free Range Kids" and The Times Cycle Campaign I decided that 20mph speed limits were the answer for my own village of Stoke Golding. However as I started to dig around and talk to people the answer became less clear to me. I took a step back and thought about what I was trying to achieve. The answer to this was easier - I wanted streets where people could live, play and socialise rather than it being just a thoroughfare for cars. In short I wanted to hand back streets to the people who live there - but how to do it?

Traffic speeds are critical, but streets also need to look and feel like a "place" rather than a highway. This can become a virtuous circle as research shows that drivers will naturally slow when there are people about and when the street "tells" them they need to go slow. This is generally talked about as "natural" or "psychological" calming. Designed correctly you should not need lots of hard calming measures such as speed bumps. This is all very well for a new development, but harder to achieve for existing streets.

I took a trip out to have a proper look at the neighbouring village of Higham on the Hill which is a "home zone". This has been done very nicely - not too many signs, no speed bumps, but subtle changes in road colour and texture, narrowing of roads. Planters, benches and attractive bollards. All great, but a whooping price tag of £400,000!!

This set me talking to the DIY Streets team at Sustrans. Their premise is that there are effective changes that can be made to streets

at low cost. A build out here and there, some changes in road texture or colour or a planter or two. The key here is that some of these can be done by the community themselves. This keeps costs low and builds ownership. They passed on some very useful resources that give some principles for street design, and also some ideas for how you can enliven streets - a temporary or moveable street cafe or a street side art gallery for example. Anything that will bring the community out and allow them to reclaim their streets.

So whilst I haven't given up on 20mph limits, I now believe that they are not enough on their own. At best they will achieve a marginal reduction in speed, but that alone will not be enough to reclaim the streets.

So where do I go from here? Well I have a slot at the Annual Parish Meeting in late April where I am hoping that I can achieve buy in to the vision and get support from the Parish Council and community. What I would then like to do is:

- start properly campaigning for reduced speed limits in the village;

- pick a particular problem and get some changes implemented on the ground; I think this is key to building momentum and credibility

- get an streets design for the village identifying affordable changes (Sustrans DIY Streets team can do this)

As ever funding will be a challenge, but we can but try. I will keep you posted through the blog as this develops.

I have unearthed quite a few good resources during my research - get in touch if you are interested and I may be able to point you in the right direction. Equally if anybody out there has been there / done it I would love to hear from you.