Earlier this week I wrote on my Facebook page informing residents that I had written to Countryside about the traffic management and asked if they could do anything to offer residents some respite from the current traffic congestion that is caused, partially, by the works on the new spine road for Wolsey Park.
Today I have received a response from their comms team which offers a little (not all lot) in the way of how they will handle traffic management from 3rd September.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Dear Councillor Newport
As outlined in our last development update to the local community, issued in July, work is currently being undertaken on Rawreth Lane to create a new access junction into the Wolsey Park site. Countryside is making every effort to carry out and complete the work as quickly as possible.
Due to the nature of these works, some disruption is unfortunately unavoidable whilst the new access is created. Countryside however recognises and appreciates the patience shown by both local residents and road users whilst these works are carried out.
The works on Rawreth Lane are being undertaken in accordance with the permit issued by Essex Country Council, as the local highways authority, and Countryside is doing everything possible to minimise any impact.
Since the works began, the traffic signals have been manually controlled by operatives at all times and the works have been phased so that the lights are removed as often as possible, for example over weekends. In order to help further minimise disruption for local residents, additional measures have now been introduced (as of 3rd September), with restrictions in place to ensure the temporary traffic lights are only used outside of peak hours (between approximately 9am and 4pm).
The main phase of work is expected to be finished during October at which time the traffic management measures will be removed from their current location on Rawreth Lane.
There will be some additional works undertaken on Rawreth Lane during October, outside of the current working area, to install the gas supply into the site. This work, which is being carried out by the gas distributor rather than Countryside, will require some traffic management measures. This work is expected to last for two weeks and Countryside has encouraged Essex Country Council to request that the mitigation measures outlined above are implemented.
Countryside is aware that some other highways works are currently being carried out in the local area, such as on Watery Lane and London Road, however these are entirely unrelated to the Countryside works.
I hope that you find this information helpful. However, should you have any questions or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
Charles Bushe
Received on 5th September 2019
Distancing themselves from the Utility connection works responsibility is the usual ploy – in reality the
Developer employs ( pays ) the Utility Companies for
making the site viable. This will not end with the Gas,
there will be Sewers / Electricity / Water and Telecom
Connections too. When Countryside finish the Rawreth
Lane end building the process will be repeated in the
London Rd when they build the Southern end houses.
The impact of all this is the direct responsibility of the
Developer’s but the root cause of the area problems is
the RDC Local Plan which chose to pursue multiple
developments in the same area at the same time –
ignoring the representations made at the conceptual
stages. Be aware this strategic mistake will be made
again in the “New” Local Plan which needs mass opposition ( later this year / early 2020 ).