Traffic
Traffic issues are important issues for local residents and a variety of traffic related issues have been addressed within the Parish in recent years; most notably those relating to speeds and safety which continue to be major causes of concern. Wiltshire Council has developed a procedure for local traffic issues which the Parish Councils must follow; 1) The Parish Council is required to consider all such requests and if agreed, to commit to funding 25% of the cost of any proposed works if the request is approved eventually by the Marlborough Area Community Area Transport Group (CATG). 2) If supported locally, the request is submitted by the Parish Council to the CATG which meets on a quarterly basis. 3) The CATG considers all request for traffic related issues from the Marlborough Area. It has a limited budget and therefore approved requests are ranked in a priority order to receive financial support. Funding is allocated to the highest ranked five schemes only. 4) Following acceptance by CATG it may be necessary for a Wiltshire Council Highways Engineer to visit the site in order to assess the situation, to submit a professional opinion on the request and to provide a costing estimate. 5) In due course, schemes rise through the priority listing to receive funding although requests may not be funded during the financial year in which they were submitted due to financial restrictions. In recent years the Parish Council and local volunteers; the Fyfield, Lockeridge and West Overton Traffic Group have addressed a range of local traffic issues and produced the ‘Village Traffic Plan’ in September 2013. The Plan identified a range of issues; some affecting the entire Parish and others relating to each village. Several solutions were proposed with the aim of keeping local roads safe and preserving the rural quality of the historic Kennet Valley; a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Plan was accepted formally by Wiltshire Council and has resulted in a number of changes and improvements. The Parish Council provides updates on traffic matters in ‘Upper Kennet News’
Traffic speed along the A4 continues to be an important issue in our area and several fatal and serious accidents have occurred; the World Health Organisation states that a 5% reduction in average speed results in a 30% reduction in fatal crashes. The Parish Council achieved the speed limit reduction to 50mph on the A4 at Fyfield in 2013 and the introduction of the 20mph limit in Lockeridge in 2017.
The Parish Council requested speed checking with the use of ‘metro counts’ in 2018 and as a consequence, permission has been given for the development of Community Speed Watch initiatives in Lockeridge in conjunction with police support. Other traffic related measures include the installation of white gates at the main entrance roads to Lockeridge, coloured tarmac crossings at the school, and a ‘park and stride’ route from the pub car park and the ‘virtual’ pavement at the site of a fatal accident in 2015.
Current Parish Council initiatives include requests for white lining on roads and car parking issues at several sites in our villages. It is also working in partnership with neighbouring Parishes including Avebury, East Kennet and Manton in order to pursue concerns about road safety issues along the A4.
