Petition - Proposed Reduction to Speed Limit – Old Burghclere

Thank you for your letter and enclosed petition dated 8 June 2018 regarding safety concerns and the speed of traffic along the C57 through Old Burghclere.

While the C57 Sydmonton Road, for the most part, is subject to the national speed limit, a speed and volume survey undertaken in September 2017 and funded by Sydmonton & Ecchinswell Parish Council as part of our Community Funded Initiative (CFI), established that actual traffic speeds were around 35mph. I am pleased to say that the injury accident record (as provided to us by the Police) for the most recent five year period, which is the period we normally use for monitoring road safety, shows that there has been no collisions on the C57 in this period.

There was however one slight injury accident in September 2016 where a car, travelling west on Sydmonton Road, turned right into the path of a car heading south on White Hill. The only other collision along the C57 was recorded in April 2014 on the approach to a right hand bend and close to its junction with Foxs Lane in Kingsclere where the driver was found to be under the influence of alcohol. Under these circumstances, we are unable to prioritise measures funded from our casualty reduction programme at this time.

Should you wish to check the injury accident record at a specific location, you can do this via the following website: http://www.crashmap.co.uk/search.

I recognise that you may be disappointed by this, and I have attached some information regarding our Community Funded Initiative that enables Parish Councils and community groups to fund minor and straightforward traffic management measures, recognising that measures that are a low priority for County Council funding and resource may be of high value to the community. I suggest that you liaise with Burghclere Parish Council should you wish to explore this option.

Yours sincerely

Cllr R Humby
Executive Member for Environment and Transport