TRO for Londis Yates Hay Road, Update

In trying to understand further the degree of integrated thinking between the various teams - Sustainable Schemes, Integrated Transport, Traffic Management - at the County Council I have today spoken with one of our Officers.

They assured me that there is considerable consultation taking place on the schemes, but that there was an issue around the volume and quick turnaround required on these schemes making a full consultation not always practically feasible.  I appreciate the pressure that many very well intentioned officers are working under. 

I was assured that in the case of Yates Hay Road during the consultation stage the relevant properties were contacted and opinions were sought, but only two responses were returned. 

They have agreed to look at the issue concerning the re-routing of the buses down Yates Hay Road rather than their original route along Tanhouse Lane and a meeting has been suggested between Integrated Transport and Sustainable schemes teams.

Traffic Regulation Order will mean double Yellow Lines outside Londis Store, Yates Hay Road, Malvern

Derek Cooke, the entrepreneur who has run the Londis business at the Junction of Yates Hay Road and Upper Howsell Road for 30 years is seeing his business threatened by a Traffic Regulation Order.

A feasibility study conducted about 2 years ago, before I was elected as County Councillor for Malvern Trinity was apparently conducted as this junction had been identified as a ‘cluster site’ – that is an accident black spot, however thankfully it is no longer officially in this category.

But the TRO process has moved on, nonetheless, and on top of this there is a small sum of s106 money.  The process has passed objection stage and is awaiting a decision to be made by the officer responsible for Sustainable Schemes together with the Cabinet member.

The intention is to paint double yellow lines around the junction outside Mr Cooke’s doors at Londis, install a couple of bollards on each side of the road at the crossing points and make some improvements to the kerbside.

Derek Cooke has objected to these plans and as his County Councillor I have also objected to try to  support him and his business. 

He is not impressed by them. “We have 8-10,000 people a week visiting my store and we employ 20 people here as we’re open 6am -10pm seven days a week.  We thrive on having an area outside that’s easy for people to park in.  They want to pop in for their shopping or to use our free cashpoint.

“Double yellow lines outside our store will only put people off.  As soon as you put double yellow lines outside people will pass by, they won’t stop anymore.   As much as anything they are a psychological barrier, people see them and just don’t want to stop.”

Mr Cooke’s concerns aren’t limited to his business though.  He has genuine concerns about the volume of traffic moving through this junction daily, the need for increased parking in the area generally and the congestion and dangers caused by the heavier vehicles, especially the buses using Yates Hay Road.

Buses Using Yates Hay Road

“The 363, 362 and 45 bus routes used to drive down Tanhouse Lane, but were re-routed down Yates Hay Road having to turn right past my store up Upper Howsell Road. 

"This is a tight junction and with cars parked around there is not a lot of space and the buses, including School buses at either end of the school day, drive over the pavements, knocking cars and they are a risk to pedestrians.  I would like to see these buses returning to their original route down Tanhouse Lane.

“Rather than painting double yellow lines outside my store I think we could slow traffic down along Tanhouse Lane with some traffic calming measures and I’d also like to see vehicle weight restrictions down Yates Hay Road which is a busy and narrow residential road.

“My business needs customers to survive. I have a lot of deliveries each week which we need for our customers.  Each week I have 6 large articulated lorries making deliveries, 3 Ginsters lorries, Kerry Foods making 6 deliveries weekly, 7 milk deliveries, 2 Frozen food deliveries and others as well.

“We know we’re valued by our customers because their goodwill and votes for us resulted in our winning the Robert Weisman ‘Best Staff of the Year Award’ 2 years ago and this year we’ve reached the Semi Finals and hope very much to get through the Finals following a Mystery Shop visit that will be made as part of the judging process.

“Double Yellow lines in Malvern Link have killed off those shops and businesses. This TRO is going to make access to the store more difficult given the number of heavy traffic movements around the store, especially since the bus route has changed with buses coming down Yates Hay Road rather than along Tanhouse Lane as they did in the past.  The s106 money appears to address theneeds of pedestrians in isolation of the needs of all road users.”

Newtown Road pre-consultation meeting with Worcestershire County Council Officers 20th September 2010

Worcestershire County Council Officers met with traders, district and town councillors, even though they were not in a formal consultation process as they recognised the strength of feeling being expressed by traders and their concerns with the concepts being discussed for improvements to Newtown Road.

Traders made it very clear that rather than less parking they would like more.  They also stressed that as traffic speeds were for the most part low on the road there wasn’t any need for crossing points on the road, especially towards Link Top.  Officers agreed that average speeds recorded on Newtown Road were low - between 22-24 miles per hour.

Traders stressed that it was not appropriate to compare their customers shopping with them to a retail park experience – a comparison suggested by the officers.  They stated that the retail park was a destination shopping experience where people went to browse and were happy to park someway off some of the shops.  For them their customers were ‘shop specific’ – simply wanting to pop into one of the shops and not necessarily visiting the other shops on the street.

They also emphasised just how difficult trading had been for everyone over recent months and the uncertainty resulting from the concept proposals for additional crossing points along the road, together with the possibility of losing car parking spaces would make it harder for them, or ‘just mess it up’ as one trader put it.  They pleaded with officers to leave the road as it is now and leave their concepts for the crossing points at that - concepts. If not the danger was that this historic shopping area which had been a part of the community for many years could be lost completely.

Whilst traders were not interested in any proposed crossing points for Newtown Road there was considerable interest in improved lighting on the road, especially in view of some recent vandalism to some local premises.

The officers present outlined the process moving forward.  The Sustainable Transport Team would be bringing forward more formally a set of proposals by early next year taking into account the findings regarding traffic and pedestrian movements on the road.  These proposals would then be opened up for consultation.  Following consultations with the public and traders, recommendations would be made by the officers which would come to the County Councillor for agreement or otherwise. 

If the County Councillor was not in agreement with a recommendation then it would go to the Cabinet Member, Cllr Derek Prodger and a senior officer for their decision.  Following this process the Traffic Management team would look at the recommendations made by sustainable transport and consider whether there were any issues that they should bring forward as part of a separate process.

With regards to previous comments made by traders for the road calming measures the officers said that they would not get agreement to traffic calming or further speed restrictions on a B road, but additional signage could be looked at.  As the key area of concern with regards to speed was the section of road around St Joseph’s Primary it was felt that given the path was narrow there this might be a reason why a crossing would not be possible.

The officers reminded traders that the North Site developer had already agreed to some schemes which they would be undertaking – including dual traffic lanes up to the traffic lights at Link Top and having made a contribution to the cost of the North Hill Court parking area indefinitely. These provisions had been agreed under s.278.  The S. 106 agreement specifically covered traffic management and lighting.

With regards to the issues which officers could take into account in making their decisions, their main priority was to look at the users of the road, however, issues around trade and the implications on traders of any such decisions would help with the final decision.

Traders and all present were grateful to the officers for making time available in the evening and for considering their concerns.

Meeting with Worcestershire County Council and Malvern Hills District Council Officers over Newtown Road Developments

Officers attending a meeting at Worcestershire County Hall, Monday 13th September, assured me that with regards to the discussions regarding Newtown Road, we are 'at a very early stage'.  They wanted to reassure traders and residents alike that no changes will be made to the road without proper consultations.

As part of this process there will be a meeting on 20th September at 5.45pm at the Salvation Army Hall on Newtown Road. This meeting is open to traders on the road and local District Councillors with an interest and will be attended by officers from Worcestershire County Council as part of their fact finding exercise.

As part of the discussions officers will be keen to ask traders about their views on the concepts outlined so far for proposed changes for Newtown Road, as well as projections for traffic increases along the road as the North Site development continues. They pointed out in our meeting today that out of a proposed 400 new homes about 100 have so far been occupied, so the impact of any changes in traffic on Newtown road have not yet been fully felt.  They were also very conscious of the need to ' keep a lot of on-road parking' and the impact of that for traders.

The officers were very mindful of the 4 schools in the vicinity and as a result of projections made by WSP Transportation Consultants they had been looking at three possible crossing points along Newtown Road - at the junction with Somers Park Road, at St Joseph's Primary School and opposite the North Hill Court car park.  I highlighted traders extreme concerns at losing on-road parking spaces because of any such developments on the road. 

Officers outlined the facts behind the current free parking at North Hill Court made possible as the result of contribution made by the developer, Persimmon Homes, to Malvern Hills District Council enabling this car park to be free to users indefinitely moving forward.

Officers wished to stress that they were keen to engage in a constructive dialogue with traders, to fully understand their concerns and to try to see what solutions, if any, might meet the needs of all parties.