Investigating
Vegetation blocking path on very narrow pavement
Sent to West Northamptonshire Council less than a minute later. ref: 6249666.
I live on Church End and I feel very unsafe walking out of my road and pulling out of my road by car with my children. The pavement is very narrow when turning left by foot out of the road and despite the 20mph speed limit, people drive very fast around the corner. The narrow pavement is then obstructed by the overgrown ivy on the power pole. I am wondering if this pavement could be widened and, or a barrier could be installed to protect pedestrians on the pavement and the vegetation cut back on the pole?
We do have mirrors to help see traffic when exiting the road allowing us to cross the road but people drive too fast to see them before pulling out in a car let alone crossing the road on foot. The mirrors are also obstructed sometimes by sun reflection/ condensation or simply people parking in front of them. I know we can get speed bumps but is there anything else that can be done to slow people down and make it safer? I get people slamming their brakes on from nearly crashing into the side of my car because they are driving so fast around the corner on a weekly basis. As you can understand, with two children in the back, this is very scary for me! I would be very grateful for your consideration on this matter.
Updates
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Thank you for reporting a fault. Officers will now investigate the concerns and this may take up to 5 working days. If you believe that your concerns are urgent then please phone us.
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Investigation: Ongoing (Reported to another department within WNC) - Thank you for your enquiry. We are sorry to hear of the access issues experienced by pedestrians using this route. Whilst we understand the problems this has caused, it is difficult to consider remedial measures due to the inherent layout and characteristics of the road, simply, there is insufficient road width to widen / upgrade the footway consistently throughout the length you have specified as this will prevent us from maintaining the current width of the carriageway running lanes. Additionally, the installation of barriers would reduce the footway width further as these are required to be set back from the carriageway edge by approximately half a metre and we would not provide barriers in this scenario as they are generally used at crossing facilities.
With reference to the vegetation, if this is encroaching into the footway and creating enough of an obstruction that would prevent safe passage for pedestrian users then this can be removed through our maintenance programme. We have reported this to the relevant team for further investigation. They will update this report accordingly.
In relation to the approaching speed of vehicles, we can advise our road safety interventions need to be evidence led which ensures that we direct our resources to where they are most needed. In this respect, collision analysis on this section of Croughton High Street revealed that there have been no recorded personal injury collisions in the past 5 years. With no collision history at this location, any identified interventions would not be a priority for us and would necessitate the diversion of funding away from more immediate concerns on the road network. With limited funding available it is also essential that we direct our resources to where they are most needed. We would therefore have some expectation that a road safety intervention would deliver a collision and casualty reduction benefit.
As an alternative suggestion, it is possible for local communities to purchase their own mobile vehicle activated devices which can be coordinated through our self-purchase vehicle activated scheme. These can be bought and managed by any local community group and may be useful for the specific speeding problems you have described, as they can be situated at strategic locations to address these issues. Grants are available from the Office of the Police Fire and Crime Commissioner (OPFCC) up to £5000. For further information relating to the grant, please contact the Office of Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner on 01604 888113, commissioner@northantspfcc.pnn.gov.uk or Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, East House, Force Headquarters, Wootton Hall, Northampton, NN4 0JQ. With this in mind, we would recommend contacting the Parish Council for support towards this aim.
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Hello
Thank you for your response. I understand the limitations and the need to prioritise. It is just a shame that it will take till someone, and potentially one of my children, to be injured before action is taken. There was a car collision just a couple of months ago right outside our road.
I will contact the parish council about the grant to help with the speeding issues - thank you for sending the information over.
Please do add the ivy to the maintenance programme. To clarify the ivy and peer pole in question is just before the gate leading to the church from the main road. The maintenance team do come and clear vegetation enabling us to see in the mirrors to turn out of our road and most of the time they do keep them clear.
Thank you
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Thank you for providing an update. Officers will now investigate the concerns and this may take up to 5 working days. If you believe that your concerns are urgent then please phone us.
-
Investigation: Ongoing (Reported to another department within WNC) - Thank you for your enquiry. We are sorry to hear of the access issues experienced by pedestrians using this route. Whilst we understand the problems this has caused, it is difficult to consider remedial measures due to the inherent layout and characteristics of the road, simply, there is insufficient road width to widen / upgrade the footway consistently throughout the length you have specified as this will prevent us from maintaining the current width of the carriageway running lanes. Additionally, the installation of barriers would reduce the footway width further as these are required to be set back from the carriageway edge by approximately half a metre and we would not provide barriers in this scenario as they are generally used at crossing facilities.
With reference to the vegetation, if this is encroaching into the footway and creating enough of an obstruction that would prevent safe passage for pedestrian users then this can be removed through our maintenance programme. We have reported this to the relevant team for further investigation. They will update this report accordingly.
In relation to the approaching speed of vehicles, we can advise our road safety interventions need to be evidence led which ensures that we direct our resources to where they are most needed. In this respect, collision analysis on this section of Croughton High Street revealed that there have been no recorded personal injury collisions in the past 5 years. With no collision history at this location, any identified interventions would not be a priority for us and would necessitate the diversion of funding away from more immediate concerns on the road network. With limited funding available it is also essential that we direct our resources to where they are most needed. We would therefore have some expectation that a road safety intervention would deliver a collision and casualty reduction benefit.
As an alternative suggestion, it is possible for local communities to purchase their own mobile vehicle activated devices which can be coordinated through our self-purchase vehicle activated scheme. These can be bought and managed by any local community group and may be useful for the specific speeding problems you have described, as they can be situated at strategic locations to address these issues. Grants are available from the Office of the Police Fire and Crime Commissioner (OPFCC) up to £5000. For further information relating to the grant, please contact the Office of Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner on 01604 888113, commissioner@northantspfcc.pnn.gov.uk or Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, East House, Force Headquarters, Wootton Hall, Northampton, NN4 0JQ. With this in mind, we would recommend contacting the Parish Council for support towards this aim.
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