At a meeting, Friday evening, 13th August 2010, about 25 traders from the shops and stores at the Link Top end of Newtown Road met with me and voiced their serious concerns about the Council's proposals for 2 new zebra crossings on Newtown Road / Leigh Sinton Road, especially in so far as these would impact of the availability of road-side parking and accessibility to the shops.
The proposal made for increasing parking spaces at the North Hill Court car park was felt to be unrealistic as the car park backed onto a bank owned, it was suggested, by the Malvern Hills Conservators and it was felt unlikely that any permission would be granted by them, should that be the case, for any such development.
As a result the traders stressed the importance of retaining the car parking spaces which already existed outside their shops and which they said were absolutely vital for their businesses. They felt it was a 'community issue' and one supported by a long history of trading on this part of Newtown Road. They emphasised that Link Top was a shopping destination for residents from Leigh Sinton, Suckley and Bransford, Interfields, Grit Lane and of course local residents as it was so convenient and such a useful selection of stores.
There were queries about how the Council had reached the conclusion that there would be any significant increases in traffic levels once North Site was completed. There were questions about increased traffic volumes on other local roads such as Yates Hay Road, Tanhouse Lane/ Upper Howsell Road. It was also queried why any pedestrian crossings were thought to be needed when there had, very thankfully, been no fatalities or serious accidents at either of the more used crossing points. However there was a suggestion that a crossing point might be worthwhile a little further down the road than was currently being proposed. It was queried whether the developer money had to be spent on Newtown Road or whether it could be used for developments which might be considered to have greater priority by both traders and residents alike.
I reassured those present that I would like to see a display of any proposals held locally for traders and resident to be able to view and comment on and would ensure that everyone was informed about any such display.
The traders key proposals were as follows:
1) Limit freight movements along the road to 7.5 tonnes (except for store deliveries)
2) Install either 'speed bumps' / 'sleeping policemen' or 'S-bends' in the section of Newtown Road outside St Joseph's Primary School especially as traffic travelling down the road towards Leigh Sinton tended to speed up on this section. It was stressed that any such proposal would require resident consultation;
3) Move the bus stop at Newtown Road Link Top as this was a particular obstruction to visibility down the road. It was queried if a bus bay could be included at the North Hill Court parking site.
4) Traders were keen to question and have an answer to where any developer money could be spent;
5) Traders asked me to arrange an 'out of hours' meeting with Council officials so they could hear first hand, if possible, the reasoning behind the proposed developments for the road. I agreed to see if this might be possible for mid September 2010
6) There had been talk of having a roundabout at the Link Top end of Newtown Road. It was agreed that I would try to find out more about whether this was a real proposal.
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