The truth, the whole truth - or nothing like the truth?

An earlier posting (6th August) contains the following statement - The problems lie much closer to home than most people realise. Just to expand upon this a little we have dug these nuggets out of the archives:

LCC Spokesman's comments - in response to an article in the Yorkshire Evening Post, Wednesday 22 February 2006, about the concerns and the activities of LAWRRAG (see also 'Royds Russian Roulette' posting) - 1) "....the group's concerns were being taken extremely seriously but major traffic problems had yet to be found." 2) "We have asked police to carry out enforcement measures to combat a small element of speeding along the road."

Letter to LAWRRAG from Councillor Steve Smith 24 August 2004 - in response to complaints about HGV traffic - "Please be assured that I will be monitoring the situation on an ongoing basis with a view to achieving a significant reduction in HGV movements along the A639/A642 corridor."

Letter to local MP from Highways department 27 January 2006 - in response to concerns about increased traffic resulting from Aire Valley development link road proposal - "It is not anticipated that the A639 will increase in volume due to the construction of these roads". The writer of this letter had been present and a meeting held on 13 January 2006, with LAWRRAG representatives and senior council officers, where it was confirmed that there would be a higher volume of all types of traffic using the A639/A642 as a result of the Aire Valley development and link road!

Speed monitoring - In November 2004 the council carried out speed monitoring on the A639 and came to the conclusion that there was no excessive speeding! It was pointed out to the council that positioning the monitoring equipment within yards of a set of traffic lights would not give a true indication of average speeds. After much pressure and many months delay monitoring was again carried out, at a spot suggested by LAWRRAG. The results from this monitoring, on the same road, showed that in excess of 80% of all vehicles were speeding, this resulted in the council stating that there was a serious speeding problem!

Police liaison following speed monitoring - It was stated at a meeting held with senior council officers in December 2005 that although it was acknowledged that there was a serious speeding problem, there was only the police that could do anything about it. The council confirmed that they would liaise with the police which they eventually did in August 2006!

LAWRRAG 2004 petition - In the summer of 2004 70+ households signed a petition supporting the campaign for speed control, an HGV ban, and a crossing for Royds School, the petition was presented to the council, through the councillors - that petition was simply ignored!

Sensibly minded people might presume that council members, officers, and ward councillors would be doing everything that they could to help the community, the rate payers.

Royds Russian Roulette

September and the start of another school year, another school year without a pedestrian controlled crossing point on the A639 or A642 for Oulton and Woodlesford students walking to and from Royds School.

Following complaints from parents, supported by the School, and the Oulton Society, Leeds City Council carried out a survey and in February 2002 (yes, 2002!) confirmed that a pedestrian controlled crossing was needed and that consideration was to be given to installing flashing slow down signs close to Pennington Lane. The location of the pedestrian controlled crossing and the source of funding was confirmed to ward councillors in March 2002 - Nothing happened.

A key concern covered in the initial LAWRRAG campaign was the safety of Royds School students having to cross either the A639 or the A642, both roads acknowledged by the council as having speeding problems! LAWRRAG had the full support of the school headteacher, parents, and the local MP, however in January 2006 the council stated that following a recent survey there were insufficient numbers of people crossing by the school too satisfy the criteria for a pedestrian controlled crossing. It was pointed out to the council and the councillors that the vast majority of students cross the road before the Sports Centre, and not close by the school - this was ignored.

In response to an article about the LAWRRAG campaign in the Yorkshire Evening Post, Wednesday 22 February 2006, a council spokesman was quoted "Young people at Royds School are working with us to produce a traffic plan to identify any traffic problems that they experience on their journeys to school. We will look at all results and take any action we think is necessary." (As the parent of a 'young person' at Royds at that time the writer nor the 'young person' ever heard anything about this supposed co-operation!). Over time it was 'suggested' that LAWRRAG shouldn't involve itself with the school as the Education department and the ward councillors, Governors at the school, were working with the relevant council departments to sort this out.

In 2002 a crossing was needed, 7 years on, with a higher traffic volume and higher speeds there is still no safe crossing point. School students are encouraged to walk to and from school.

Leeds/Wakefield Road speed limit to rise!

Don't panic - the header is a bit of red-herring, but it could have been used some while back had the blog been in existence then. There has been no mention of an increase in the speed limit for over 12 months. It is doubtful that the simple matter of 'compensation' was ever even considered by council officers when this originally blew up.

Those new to this must wonder why the speeding problem can't quite simply be resolved - we're all aware of government campaigns - 'speed kills' etc, speed cameras seem to be everywhere (else!), getting caught travelling at 30mph above the speed limit results in an automatic ban, etc etc etc. This posting highlights some of the stumbling blocks.

In August 2006 the Department for Transport published DfT Circular 1/06 new guidance on setting local speed limits, which can be found here . Considering that the Lawrrag campaign to do something about speeding was well underway, and that the council speed monitoring figures resulted in them accepting that there was a 'serious problem', one might wonder why a senior member of staff within the Leeds City Council Highways Department thought it acceptable to write to Colin Challen MP stating that new guidance gave the authority the right to increase the speed limit(?)

The document is available for all to see, and the very first line of the Introduction to the Dft Circular reads "Balancing the need to travel with the need to improve quality of life is a key objective of the Department for Transport." with one of the Key points being "Traffic authorities set 'local speed limits' in situations where local needs and considerations deem it desirable for drivers to adopt a speeed which is different from the national speed limit. Local speed limits could be reduced or increased, depending upon the conditions and evidence." Clear, concise, and unambiguous? It is interesting that the council officer didn't also suggest to our MP that the speed limit could be reduced.

With regard to the Police, a spokesman has stated that in their opinion a 50mph limit would be a more suitable. The Police have also stated that as there are so few accidents, Leeds/Wakefield Road is low priority insofar as dealing with speeding goes!

The problems lie much closer to home than most people realise!

HGV Ban hypocrisy?

It is acknowledged that the unacceptable increase in HGV traffic along Leeds/Wakefield Road is directly related to the industrial and distribution developments in Stourton, and Cross Green, and that in turn this growth is directly related to the construction of the M1-A1 link, now a few years old. Without the M1-A1 link the scale of industrial and distribution development would have been significantly reduced because of planning and highways issues.

The M1-A1 link opened up acres of developable land, and what better location for industrial and distribution developments than right next to the M1 motorway with direct links to both the M62 and the A1 - no real argument.

Interesting then to consider the justification for the M1-A1 Link, Lofthouse - Bramham, that can be found here Roads review - what role for trunk roads in England?

........to relieve congestion, improve the environment and enhance road safety on the local road network by removing through traffic, particularly heavy goods vehicles, from unsuitable roads in Central and East Leeds and to provide additional capacity to meet future predicted traffic growth.

Meeting with Shadow Transport Minister

On Monday 3rd August, a small delegation of local residents had a brief and informal meeting with Alec Shelbrooke, Conservative parliamentary candidate for this area, and Robert Goodwill MP, Shadow Transport Minister. The meeting was held in a lay-by on Leeds Road and above the noise of the traffic, and within feet of speeding HGV's, the concerns of local residents were outlined to Robert Goodwill who listened and commented understandingly.

Special thanks must be given to Alec Shelbrooke for arranging the meeting and for contributing positively on our behalf.