All the users of the A34 between Wilmslow, Dean Row and Handforth Dean must have noticed the superbly tended roundabout leading off to Wilmslow – no doubt a great help to the Wilmslow In Bloom Gold Award.
Meanwhile Cheshire East Council appear to be happy to leave the 2 roundabouts to the north serving Dean Row and Handforth Dean to be massively overgrown , covered in weeds and with damaged signage . I am amazed that companies are paying to have advertising signage on these!
There is no excuse not to maintain these to the same standard, especially as we don't have the excuse of the A34/A555 roadworks.
Perhaps the new council can deal with these eyesores and provide a better showcase along the A34 and into the access roads?
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
the handforth dean roundabout will likely be altered when they start on the garden village scheme, I have seen "officials" measuring and surveying it on a few occasions.
Thank you for highlighting this issue as it is something that I raised with Councillor Roberts, Portfolio Holder for Highways, last week. I also brought to his attention the amount of litter along the verges and the overgrown shrubs and trees that are obscuring signage.
For Health and Safety reasons maintenance of the verges and the roundabouts does necessitate lane closures, which inevitably has an impact on traffic, however once yearly maintenance is not in my view adequate for one of the main arterial routes into the north of the borough.
Councillor Roberts has assured me that he will look into this matter and I will forward this article to him to assist with his enquiries.
Councillor Toni Fox
Ward councillor for Dean Row, Wilmslow
Noisy cars are still noisy even at low levels of speed as you can hear when they drive through town. Preventing this is purely a police matter though and is not your elected councillors responsibility.
However, Wilmslow is not the only town blighted with this problem and the government is now trialling speed cameras fitted with microphones to automatically detect noisy vehicles and issue the driver with a fine.
Therefore, there may be a solution to this in the near future.
Cllr Mark Goldsmith
I have pasted some text and a link from the CEC website below. Councillors would be well advised to read this before attempting to pass the buck.
With several recent serious accidents on the A34 (I can hear the noise too) it is time for CEC and the police to look at cameras and other enforcement measures. It is clearly being used as a race track.
Wilmslow Town Council also has a speed monitoring device that can record speeds to be shared with the police.
‘Speeding and traffic calming
We work with the police, communities and town and parish councils to manage traffic speeds in Cheshire East.’
https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/highways_and_roads/road-safety/speeding.aspx
If this records the front number plate of the vehicle, it will be useless. Many of the "super-cars" blighting our week-ends do not carry a front registration plate. The maximum fine for failing to display is £40, with no penalty points. Peanuts to these characters, in the unlikely event of them being prosecuted.
Time for average speed cameras, which record rear number plates, I think.
You don’t have to travel far to see 20 mile an hour speed limits on residential streets due to progressive council policies on safety and air pollution.
We could have the same here if councillors took the time to understand the issue and listen to residents rather than passing the buck.
""Continue to listen and promote your views to Council, making our area a better place to live."
These words are a direct quote form my councillor's 2019 'election manifesto' - or mailshot begging note - which might be similar to your 'begging note', I don't know. They are from MY councillor [Don Stockton] and even though I didn't vote for him I don't see why he should have a different view to making Wilmslow a "better place to live" than you. I would certainly put stopping boy racers pestering the locals with their noise and MAKING THE ROADS LESS SAFE by racing around a very laudable cause that would have the support of all Wilmslow residents no matter who they might think of voting for NEXT TIME!
Wilmslow Town Councillor Chetan Katre similarly espoused in his election manifesto of July 2017 - “I have a keen interest in road safety and will make this a top priority. I also want to improve Wilmslow as a place to live”. I have asked him several times to give me an idea of his plans and what he has achieved so far but not a peep of a reply.
Election manifestos are mostly just that - a cunning plan just to get people to give you their vote and then hope they will forget what they promised! Sometimes this isn’t the case.
Cheshire police though want evidence based data to support road speed reductions. Unfortunately, they don't act just because people complain of noise or think cars are going too fast. They want clear evidence of excess speeds and previous accidents in that area. We do collect this data and will support reductions when appropriate. However, it has to be evidence based and the data collected does not always match individuals perceptions of speed.
Currently, your RoW councillors are liaising with many local residents to get PCSO's to use their hand held speed cameras and for Cheshire Police's mobile speed cameras to be used on problem roads. We also ask Wilmslow Town Council to install their speed indication device to remind drivers to reduce speeds too. Therefore, we are already active in trying to reduce speed but accept there is always more to be done.
@ Cllr Oliver Romain, Lib Dem
The government issued a report in Nov 2108 that looked at the effect of 20mph zones in 12 UK cities over several years. It is the largest report ever undertaken on the effectiveness of 20mph zones and cost £1 million to produce. It concluded that:
"The changes resulting from 20mph limits are disappointing but not surprising. The study finds that signed-only 20mph limits have very small effects on speed and, surprisingly, no statistically significant effect on casualties in the majority of locations. Local people do not perceive changes and behaviour changes are small.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/20-mph-speed-limits-on-roads
Unfortunately, the signs changed nothing. Drivers soon ignored them, it gave a false sense of safety to residents and serious accidents were actually marginally higher.
Therefore, Cllr Romain "the progressive councils" (I presume you mean Lib Dem ones) that introduced these zones just wasted significant amounts of rate payers money.
Perhaps in future, you may want to fully understand the issues before commenting.
Cllr Mark Goldsmith
It doesn’t take much consideration to understand that ‘signage only 20mph limits’ with no enforcement make little difference. Of course they don’t.
What we do know is, speed kills and the difference between collisions at 40, 30 and 20mph is huge in terms of outcomes.
No surprise that Mark Goldsmith is angrily flailing around and is of course against any debate about the reduction in speed limits - he thinks he owns Wilmslow.
In round terms 75% of the defined serious accidents occur in urban areas, 20% on rural roads and only 5% on motorways. The proportion of accidents on rural roads has increased steadily which presumably accounts for the additional speed restrictions on out of town routes.
Contributors may also like to debate the statistic that pedestrians hit by a vehicle travelling at 30mph have an 80% chance of survival whereas those struck by a car at 40mph have an 80% chance of death.
If we were all to drive around at 30mph (where possible and where this is the maximum speed limit) we would slow more reckless drivers behind us. The same principle applies to different limits.
The other thing to consider is that 30 mph is not a target - it’s a limit.
We already have 20mph limits nearby in Wythenshawe, Poynton and Prestbury. There are also temporary 20mph limits near schools at drop off and collection times.
I believe that there are many roads in Wilmslow where residents and road users would benefit from reduced speed limits and/or introducing 20mph zones.
""Continue to listen and promote your views to Council, making our area a better place to live."
Whoever wrote that needs help. The area has only headed downwards since Pete's mob got their hands on Summerfields and the "farm" was bunged up. Little if anything has made it a better place to live since then.
Its time for Cheshire Police to spend some time there, particularly on the weekend, when Motorbikes are using the road as a race track.
The following limits apply to motorcars and motorbikes.
MOTORWAYS: the speed limit on a motorway is 70mph. Motorways mostly have 3 lanes. Prohibited traffic on a motorway includes pushbikes, horses [with or without a cart], L-drivers [except with an approved instructor], motorbikes under 50cc, farm vehicles, mobility scooters and pedestrians. Those who don’t know will laugh when I say that when the M1 opened in 1959 motorists used to stop on the grass verge and have a picnic [perhaps before the services opened?]. There are no roundabouts, traffic lights or sharp curves.
THE A34 BYPASS: the speed limit is 70mph [a dual carriageway] and unless anyone can find out and prove me wrong - pushbikes, horses [with or without a cart], L-drivers [except with an approved instructor], motorbikes under 50cc,farm vehicles, mobility scooters and pedestrians are NOT prohibited! The A34 bypass has roundabouts at regular intervals, which means that traffic will regularly have to slow down from 70mph to sometimes zero mph whilst making their journey. There are traffic lights.
So the A34 bypass has the same speed limit as a motorway but with ALL the added dangers that are prohibited on a motorway - and all crammed into two lanes as well.
So where’s the logic in all that and how come nobody seems to think that 70mph on the A34 bypass is too fast for comfort - as well as for safety?
The A34 is attractive to these moronic boy racers because they can whiz past and cut up other motorists at close quarters. They can skilfully navigate the roundabouts that are beautifully spaced at regular intervals and allowing them to go down the gears with accompanying exhaust racket as though they are on some city race track. After all going fast on straight, flat road for miles, all on your own with nobody to scare or show off to is pretty boring after a while. Hence the appeal of our local road to these boy racers.
So who still thinks the A34 bypass should NOT be limited to 50mph or perhaps 40mph, as it will undoubtedly get busier soon when all the new housing estates churn out their cars onto the road?
Councils are allowed to set lower limits and I am sure that the police can have a say in how fast we can go - but yet again these two institutions that we rely on for sense on our roads both seem to be unable to do what many see as sensible.
What do you think now?
Apologies Alan for taking your letter in a different direction - I agree with you completely however.
I do agree though that the road is a racetrack. Even at the 50mph limit areas. Macclesfield Silk Road is the same.
Roundabouts are yet another misguided traffic calming/ directing measure that has outlived its sell by date.
Cheshire East Council is part of the Cheshire Road Safety Group, which also includes our police and fire services. This group monitors our road speed limits and adjusts them based on Department for Transport (DfT) guidelines. Any speed limit changes it makes are based on all of the following criteria:
1. What is the function of the road? Is it designed to just move vehicles or is it in a residential area where quality of life is a bigger priority?
2. Casualty numbers? Is the number and/or severity of accidents higher than
expected? This data is provided by Cheshire Police.
3. Would a lower speed limit help encourage walking and/or cycling?
The A34 was designed to be a fast bypass of the town and I believe has an average rate of accidents. It has no pedestrians and rarely cyclists, so is extremely unlikely to ever meet the above criteria to become a 40mph zone.
In fact, such a low speed would likely cause far more serious problems as:
- A 40mph speed reduces the volume of traffic the A34 can move by -40%
- This would increase congestion on the A34 and push traffic onto side roads
- More side road traffic means more accidents on them with pedestrians & cyclists
- As pedestrians and cyclists are very vulnerable, it means more serious injuries and deaths
Therefore, a new speed limit on the A34 would have the completely opposite effect of reducing accidents. Yes, road noise might be a bit quieter, but it would come at an unacceptable cost of massive life-changing implications to others. Hopefully you can see why speed limit decisions MUST be made on evidence and not on public opinion or by politically motivated councillors.
Enforcing speeding and dangerous driving is purely a matter for Cheshire Police force though, who suggest you report it by calling 101 or by using the web site:
https://cheshire.police.uk/advice-and-support/roads-and-vehicle-safety/speeding/report
For more information on how Cheshire East acts to improve road safety in many different ways, please see:
https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/highways_and_roads/road-safety/road-safety.aspx
Best regards
Cllr Mark Goldsmith
Residents of Wilmslow