As you may have read in the latest edition of Sutton Focus, the Parish Council has bid to the County Council for funding to replace the Ely Road build-out with more appropriate traffic management measures.

The decision followed local residents presenting a Facebook petition to the Parish Council.

Residents outlined issues with the current build-out, in particular;

1. Close calls when impatient motorists try to race past the build-out when the isn’t a adequate gap in the oncoming traffic
2. Regular queues backing up at rush hour onto the A142 roundabout because the traffic flow is much higher than the build-out was designed for

After discussing the issues, the Parish Council agreed to make a bid to the Local Minor Highways Improvements scheme. Applications can be made for a contribution from the County Council of up to £10,000. The Parish Council must provide its own contribution of a minimum of 10% of the cost (the Parish Council had already put funds aside for this purpose). Bids had to be submitted by 21st December and will be assessed by an advisory panel of county councillors with a decision being made in the first half of 2014.

Applications describe the problem to be addressed and the expected outcome but don’t usually go into details of the solution to be implemented. The build-out was installed to reduce accidents caused by vehicles speeding into the village from the A142. Whilst successful, it has created the other issues highlighted by residents. Any effective solution will need to tackle those issues while continuing to address the original issues of speeding traffic.

If the bid is successful the Parish Council will be able to work with the County Council traffic management experts on an more effective solution. The police will also be asked for their input and I would like to see the Parish Council give local residents an opportunity to review any new proposals.

Finally to be successful it is important to demonstrate that an application has strong public support. In order to help achieve this we have created an online petition. If you support these plans please sign the petition and encourage your friends and neighbours to sign as well. The petition can be found by clicking here.