¶ Revised - Station Road
The original "recommendation" for Station road was nested within:
"211203 FINAL Transport Assessment 08.12.2021.pdf"
https://app.box.com/embed/preview/5uxq78b7j1s6suazrmjf7zeeazw8bipd?direction=ASC&theme=dark
The original "recommendations" are listed on page 66 Section 8.5.12 in the above document and a plan was also provided in Appendix C.1, page 14 here:
"Appendix C-C1-C2-C3-C4 Infrastructure Provision 08.12.2021.pdf"
https://app.box.com/embed/preview/ecp28lw6t6d7yc2xn7nt50dqlmsvore5?direction=ASC&theme=dark
The revisions are listed in this document on page 11, Section: "4.6 Station Road”:
"Transport Assessment Addendum_Final 22.03.22.pdf"
https://app.box.com/embed/preview/q1o1xz4vgmwew6iw7dux4lhp2ky850wa?direction=ASC&theme=dark
The applicant has basically stated on page 11 that they disagree with what highways have suggested and are maintaining their own proposals. They even shamefully attempt to make comparisons with the crossing outside of the lower school on Westoning Road, even showing a photo of it, while not showing a photo of station road.
[OPINION] Making such a comparison is completely invalid and doesnt make any sense. It is clear that they have not taken onboard what highways have said in their consultation response and the revisions could well be more dangerous than the previous recommendations. [/OPINION]
The updated plan of the revisions is here:
"Revised - Station Road Highways Improvements - 70031578-SK-008-D - 22.03.22.pdf"
https://app.box.com/embed/preview/sutul87wevywcorxbry18e7ud72dkl1y?direction=ASC&theme=dark
Differences:
The main difference is the removal of the giveway build-out half way along station road. The reason for this is likely because Highways have commented that having 2 giveway restrictions so close together would cause traffic lockup and potential for vehicles to mount the footway in order to pass.
The Highways comments are here:
Internal Consultation Memo (300719).pdf
https://app.box.com/embed/preview/cmns4j8v8vm5qntbmwjrr618mmxt7l7h?direction=ASC&theme=dark
Another change is that the other giveway build-out with the uncontrolled pedestrain crossing has been moved eastwards away from the cottages and is now close to the Wentworth Court entrance. This is likely because Highways also had issues with this, mainly due to "poor driver-pedestrian intervisibility given the adjacent on-street parking" and drivers turning right from Station Yard.
The original recommendtion plan:
The revised plan:
The are several obvious and serious flaws with the revised plan:
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Half way along station road is the narrowest point, at the corner of Harlington Manor wall, previously this was shown as being widened to 2 metres, possible due to the giveway build-out, now this is shown as still being widened, but to 1.2 metres. The current footway width at that point is only 0.8m, it is obvious that the loss of 0.4m of carriageway width in order to widen the footway is just going to create a dangerous unoffical giveway as it is currently very tight when 2 normal size vehicles attampt to pass at this point and 2 large vehicles are currently unable to pass without one of then stopping to giveway. Due to the limited width available, any narrowing of the carriageway in order to widen the footway is likely to make the situation more dangerous for pedestrains due to increased risk of accidents and emergency kerb collisions and footway mounting by vehicles.
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The plan still shows the same widening of the footway over the railway bridge and hence narrowing of the carriageway, with the addition of the traffic priority sign. Although this still looks like a small amount of footway widening, it still presents the same dangers due to the sharp blind bend when approaching the narrowed railway bridge from Toddington road. The proximity of the Station Yard entrance to the parked cars outside the cottages, the narrow railway bridge and station carpark entrance already creates a dangerous situation without the further narrowing the road over the bridge and addition of the give-way build-out / uncontrolled pedestrian crossing. The footway widening is mentioned in the wording on page 8 of the revised Transport assessment: "Redistribution of carriageway space to allow the existing footway on the rail bridge to be widened from c.1.2m to 1.5m;"
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The remaining giveway build-out / uncontrolled pedestrian crossing is still not safe due to the proximity of the parked cars, the Wentworth Court entrance and the Station Yard entrance. Note that the parked cars usually extend all the way from the Station Yard entrance to just opposite the Wentworth Court Entrance.
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The plan still shows a widening of the footway outside the cottages near the giveway build-out / uncontrolled pedestrian crossing. This looks to be wider than in the original plan, the amount of widening shown is likely to mean that there will not be enough carriageway width left for parked cars without blocking the passage of buses and other large vehicles.
This is clear when looking at "Inset A" on the revised plan:
The only remaining area for residents of the cottages to park would be immediately to the left of the build-out / crossing in the above plan. There will also be an obvious reduction in the available unofficial parking space, likely to create issues elsewhere. -
The widening of the footway over the railway bridge as mentioned in the transport assessment with the resulting narrowing of the road will result in a dangerous situation when combined with a priority system over the bridge as shown in the plan. Drivers passing over the bridge from the crossroads or approaching from Toddington Road currently cannot see oncoming vehicles in advance due to the blind bend. A narrowed road over the bridge would present a collision risk if the oncoming vehicle is not passable.
- As can be seen in the above annotated plan, the combination of limited road width west of the giveway build-out and the presence of parked vehicles will result in a large distance where only a single vehicle can pass, the only opportunity to yield to vehicles passing over the bridge priority system will be inside the Station Yard entrance, for a single vehicle, which may well be occupied by vehicles waiting to exit onto Station Road. This will result in traffic lockup, tailbacks and collision risks at the blind bend as well as knock on affects at the cross roads to the east.
Are these Proposals or Recommendations?
Highways have stated in their original consultation response that improvements on Station Road are required to be delivered by the developer quote:
Improvements along this highway are necessary as part of the access strategy for the site, and therefore we would be looking for this to be delivered by the developer.
Although the wording used in the revised Transport Assessment is now:
"The current proposal”
Rather than previously:
"the following engineering works are recommended"
It is not clear if Station Road improvements are now actually proposals rather than recommendations and that they would be paying for and carrying out anything being proposed.