Concern that council ignored police warnings over 20mph zone

6:10am Wednesday 28th April 2010

By Scott McPherson

SWINDON Council has been accused of ignoring pleas from Wiltshire Police not to install 20mph zones on certain roads in Old Town.

Families living in the area have also said the new experimental speed scheme has made it more dangerous than ever before and that children are at serious risk on their walk to school.

The revelation has come to light after a residents’ action group against the current traffic calming measures, submitted a Freedom Of Information request which confirmed Wiltshire Constabulary’s head of roads policing, Chief Inspector Ian Copus, took the drastic and unusual step of handing the council a formal police objection with several reservations about the scheme.

Last summer, the council put forward plans for a 20mph limit to be introduced on 15 roads in Old Town and Okus, but Wiltshire Police urged them to reconsider and warned them of problems that could arise on Goddard Avenue and Quarry Road.

At the beginning of this year the council started a short-term 18-month 20mph ‘experimental limit’ in the area that did leave out some of the roads the police objected too but kept in some Chief Inspector Copus had strong reservations about.

Residents have come out in force against the latest scheme saying that the council has not delivered what it originally promised local people.

Clare Marlow, mother of two children at Lethbridge Primary School in Lethbridge Road, said: “The Freedom of Information statement clearly reveals that Swindon Borough Council has designed and built a faulty scheme without due care and attention.

“As the police warned, key long streets such as Quarry Road and Goddard Avenue are now more dangerous than before.

“Through drivers are not really aware that the area is now a 20mph zone because of the ineffective design and signage and are driving as normal.

“And, residents are in danger – trying to cross the streets as if the traffic is calmed.

The plans for the 20mph zone were approved by Swindon Borough Council in 2007 following a massive response to the Okus and Old Town Traffic study consultations.

Josie Williams, community arts development officer at Commonweal School in The Mall, has said local people have been ignored, including children at her school who had their own designs for safer streets ignored by the council.

She said: “It has been disappointing. I actually attended a meeting last year arranged by residents between the manager of the national Links to School fund and Swindon Borough Council staff to discuss possible additional funding.

“Yet even now, nearly one year on, Swindon Borough Council has not made an application for the money.

“At various meetings poster designs by children were actively encouraged. I am keen to use art as a vehicle to further community cohesion within the scheme. “Ultimately it is the local community who have to live with speeding traffic and to implement visual calming methods both physical and psychological have been proven to reduce speed.”

In a letter addressed to the action group, Dave Potter, Swindon Council’s director of planning and transport, said that the council had listened to the police.

He said: “The scheme was not intended to be a 20mph zone because of the cost associated with introducing speed measures at the required regular intervals; and residents’ concerns at the impact such measures would have on the character of the area, particularly given its conservation status.

“Whilst I note your concerns over the safety of what has been implemented I can advise you that the 20mph limit has been implemented in line with the legislative requirements of a 20mph limit.

“I am sorry that you feel the current scheme does not meet the expectations of local residents, however the borough council have implemented a scheme that meets legislative requirements and current best practice guidance and has the support of local police.”