Agenda item

Councillor Richard Mills attended the meeting and spoke as a Ward Councillor.

Concerns and suggestions from petitioners included the following:

·         The petition requested the installation of traffic calming measures in Royal Lane, Hillingdon between Hillingdon Hill and Pied Heath Road.

·         The petitioners explained that concerns had arisen due to the continuous speed, volume and noise of traffic along this stretch of road.

·         There had been a number of accidents on Royal Lane, caused by excess speeding.

·         To moderate speeds, the petitioners suggested that the Council might consider the introduction of width restrictions which would assist in reducing speeds.

·         Other petitioner suggestions to control speeds included: the introduction of a 20 mph speed limit, speed ramps, speed cameras, one way working and also a pedestrian crossing outside Bishopshalt School.

·         It was noted that the incinerator plant, near Hillingdon Hospital was a source of much local congestion and noise given the incessant vehicle movements. As a result, a further suggestion included the relocation or change to the current access route to the incinerator plant.

Councillor Mills stated that he agreed with the petitioners' concerns and noted that in his experience, motorists were likely to accelerate hard as the character of the road changed from an urban to a rural environment. He also highlighted that there were a number of concealed side roads which fed into Royal Lane which were very dangerous.

Cllr Brian Stead had also highlighted in conversations with Councillor Mills that the prevalence of anti-social behaviour along Royal Lane had increased and at present, there was a fad for motorbike racing.

Councillor Mills noted that a speed survey had been conducted in the past but the findings from this differed from the experiences of local people. On this basis, he stated that re-carrying out a speed survey was a good idea as given the current technology, knowing what vehicle types as well as the speeds being achieved would be very valuable.  Commenting on the location of the issue, he explained that the close proximity to the hospital might well negate some of the options the petitioners had suggested simply because of their impact on emergency response vehicles.

Further suggestions also included the impact of improving lighting and the effect this had been shown to have on vehicle speeds elsewhere.

Councillor Burrows listened to the concerns of the petitioner and responded to the points raised:

Commenting on the proposed pedestrian crossing outside Bishopshalt School, Councillor Burrows stated that this would have to go through a strict safety auditbut the Head Teacher had been working closely with the Council and endorsed the concept of a crossing which had been integrated in the School's Travel Plan.

Commenting on the idea of safety cameras, Councillor Burrows explained that the installation of these was outside the control of the Council and usually were only installed if there had been 3 or more fatalities on a stretch of road. Thankfully this had not been the case, so it was unlikely this option would be pursued in the immediate future.  Concluding his remarks, Councillor Burrows explained he could understand the merits of conducting a further speed survey to inform the Council's future actions. The four recommendations in the Officer report were agreed. In addition, the Cabinet Member added a fifth recommendation, which asked Officers to prune the trees where necessary along the stretch of road to improve road safety by making the concealed roads more visible.

REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION

To allow the Cabinet Member to discuss with petitioners their concerns and inform residents of the planned consultation that will be taking place.

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Member:

1. Met with petitioners and considered their request for traffic calming measures in Royal Land Hillingdon.
2. Subject to the above, asked Officers to undertake a 24 hour / 24 / 7 day vehicle speed and volume survey at locations on Royal Lane to be agreed with the petitioners and to report the results back to the Cabinet Members and local Ward Councillors.
3. Subject to the above, considers adding Royal Lane to a future phase of the Council's Vehicle Activated Signs Programme.
4. Instructs Officers to look at other possible road calming measures as part of the Council's Road Safety Programme and report back to the Cabinet Member.
5. Instructs Officers to ensure trees etc are investigated and cut back where necessary.

REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION

To allow the Cabinet Member to discuss with petitioners their concerns and inform residents of the planned consultation that will be taking place.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED / RISK MANAGEMENT

These were discussed with petitioners.