Petition - Speed Limit on Lovedon Lane, Kings Worthy

Thank you for your recent petition requesting a reduction of the speed limit on Lovedon Lane in the vicinity of the new development.

I note that you have made comparison to traffic controls provided at other residential developments, but would refer you to a response on this same issue sent to Kings Worthy Parish Council on 19/08/16, which stated:

The highways response to the planning application for the new development on Lovedon Lane, including matters related to the new access, was dealt with by Winchester City Council under the terms of their Agency Agreement, due to the size of development being under the agency threshold. Any questions relating to the planning application should be referred to Winchester CC. Whilst I appreciate your concerns about the potential traffic impact of the new development on Lovedon Lane, the access has been designed to the recorded speed of the traffic that uses Lovedon Lane and has undergone a technical design check by Hampshire County Council’s Section 278 engineers and is considered to be acceptable.

In the same response it was explained that the ongoing funding cuts had reduced the County Council’s capacity to investigate and implement non safety related highway alterations. This situation remains unchanged and has required us to prioritise our remaining limited resources to address the causes of injury accidents, in order to reduce the number of people killed and injured on our roads. The Traffic & Safety Group has access to the Police database of all injury accidents reported in Hampshire and this is used to prioritise our programmes of traffic and safety schemes.

I note your petition acknowledges the support from Councillors Prince and Porter on this issue and you may be aware that, following a further recent enquiry from Councillor Porter, we confirmed that a review of the Police database showed no injury-accidents reported on this section of Lovedon Lane in the current five year study period for which data was available (up to 30.04.18). Therefore, I can only reiterate that Lovedon Lane still does not justify inclusion on our safety programmes compared to other less fortunate locations where there are recurring casualty issues.

In regard to the final bullet point in your petition relating to the Council’s available finance and there being no legitimate reason for declining this request, I refer to the above findings and would also refer you to further information regarding our safety led policy adopted in May 2016 Making roads safer.

I hope this clarifies the Council’s position, but would add that we continue to proactively monitor the Police accident database and consider any emerging or worsening trends that arise.