Staggering Hypocrisy from Labour councillor!

LAWRRAG is a non-political group and at various stages during the past 13 years  representatives from each of the three main political parties have been involved, each always being quick to blame the 'opposition' for their lack of any action. A typical example of this can be seen below 'Lib Dems - Soft on Speeding', put out by Karen Bruce, then a Labour Party campaigner.  Given that since this first appeared we have a Labour led council, and that two out of the three Ward councillors are Labour members this really does take the biscuit!

Traffic Monitoring November 2017 - 13th anniversary!

As a result of traffic monitoring cables having been installed across the carriageway in various locations along the A639 and A642, this month, the following email has been sent to the Ward councillors, copied to our MP, and the Highways representative from Leeds City Council:   

Councillors

With reference to the traffic monitoring (cables across the carriageway) taking place on the A639 it has been pointed out that yet again the siting of the monitoring equipment on Leeds Hill is not in the optimum location and if the monitoring is for speed measurement, then the results will not be truly representative of the traffic speeds reached along Leeds Hill, and will show lower maximum speeds.  To record the speeds that are being reached the monitoring equipment should be closer to the middle of this stretch of road, as has been proven in the past.

NO action being taken about traffic speeds along the A639/A642

At a recent meeting (7 Feb.2017) with two of the local councillors, and representatives from Leeds City Council Highways Department, and the Police, it was confirmed that the Council was unable to do anything further in connection with traffic speeds, and that West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership was responsible for the introduction of cameras, fixed and mobile:

What are the criteria for getting new cameras installed in West Yorkshire?

These have changed over the years but since April 2009 we have been working to the following conditions based on the number of accidents where someone is Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) and a points system where each KSI accident scores 5 points and slight injury accidents score 1. Fixed camera lengths automatically qualify for mobile enforcement as well and both can be used together.

Traffic NOISE and health

From day one of the campaign the number one complaint from local residents has been the problem of night time noise, some from speeding traffic but primarily noise from HGV traffic, (some of which is also speeding).  Reference to government Planning and Transport policy guidelines, on keeping HGV traffic away from residential areas, particularly through the night is to be found elsewhere on this site.  All of this has been brought to the attention of councillors and MP alike, many times over and has been ignored.  The health issues associated with traffic noise and disturbed sleep are well researched and documented.  The following is just a small snippet of what can be found on the World Health Organisation website:

An Outsider's View

For those interested in such things there is a wonderful series of old Ordnance Survey maps published by Alan Godfrey Maps (www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk). Each map  includes a commentary upon the area and it's history. The following is an extract from the Oulton 1905 map, published in 2016, with the commentary by Alan Godfrey dated May 2016:

Click on image to view

"Oulton's undoubted charms today are marred by it's traffic". An Outsider's view.

Elsewhere in the Leeds area

Late with this one but below is an article that appeared in the Yorkshire Evening Post about measures being taken in Adel and Wharfedale, with reference to the 'Wellbeing Fund'.

Click on image to view

2017 - YEAR 13 - Resumption of service

As we move into year 13 with still no sign of intent upon the part of those elected to serve the community to resolve the speeding traffic and HGV issues blighting the area, it has been decided to resume this blog site and remind concerned residents of who said or 'promised' what, what has happened so far, and what we action we can look forward to in the future.