Last night Thursday 13th February a meeting took place on Moorfield Road at 4.00pm between Mr David Keane Cheshire Police Crime Commissioner, Representatives from the Widnes Local Policing unit and members of the Moorfield Road Residents Action Group and other residents. Again, this is in direct contrast to Representatives of Halton Borough Council, who are still refusing to meet with the Moorfield Road Action Group or visit Moorfield Road to observe the situation. We had requested that Cheshire Police did not wear their uniforms, as this would have alerted drivers to their presence and the result worked out rather well. Although the timing of the meeting wasn’t at a time when issues are normally happening it worked out better than we thought due to the volume of traffic and incidences of excessive speeding to be observed by all.
Local residents were given the chance to express their views and raised key concerns about the continued danger from excessive speeding, dangerous driving and the misuse by large overweight HGV Vehicles. One of the people who were keen to speak to Mr David Keane personally was Julie Cavanagh who is the Moorfield Road Primary School Lollipop lady. She was there to voice the opinions of behalf of the parents who have children attending Moorfield Road Primary School and to express her feelings of how unsafe she feels whilst carrying out her duties. The road safety issue is a major concern for parents of children who attend Moorfield Road Primary School, particularly the very dangerous narrow pavement on the railway bridge. Parents walking their children to & from the school are extremely conscious of the amount of vehicles which go flying past them at high speed and most believe that it is only a matter of time before a child is seriously hurt or killed.
Representatives from the Widnes Local Policing also observed first-hand whilst watching the traffic on Moorfield Road that the SID camera was not activating to a large number of vehicles passing it or showing the correct speed at which they were travelling. Bearing in mind the Police are professionals, not the uneducated public which was a comment made by a Local Councillor to one of our members. Maybe now the traffic Management will take on board what the local residents have been saying since September 2019. The same Police Officers also observed an overweight vehicle which should not have been using Moorfield Road and said they would be contacting the company in due course, just supporting what we have been saying for many years.
Mr Keane walked along Moorfield Road to see the issues for himself, knocking on doors, to make his presence known and letting residents express their views to him personally and to make it known what he would be doing for us going forward. Residents not belonging to the Moorfield Road action group gave the same response when asked about the problems relating to the serious traffic issues on Moorfield Road. Residents highlighted the fact that despite the presence of the Cheshire Police camera van being in an obvious position and in full view of traffic it was having little effect on the amount of vehicles driving at excessively high speeds. The meeting concluded after 90 minutes at 5.30pm.
We are extremely grateful to Mr Keane and representatives from our The Widnes Local Policing Unit for making the effort to coming to visit Moorfield Road at a time when they were able to observe the issues for themselves. After Mr Keane’s walk along Moorfield Road, the observations he made led him to the same conclusion to that of The Moorfield Road Action Group. He felt there was a lack of relevant signage and agreed that the only real long-term solution to our problems would be the installation of physical traffic calming measure by HBC. Unfortunately, he did have some bad news relating to our request for a static speed camera to be sited on Moorfield Road. Mr Keane confirmed that a static speed camera was not a viable option as he will be campaigning for the removal of all such cameras for Cheshire roads. The problem is that drivers only slow down around 100 yards before the camera then speed up again when they are out of range. We totally agree with his statement on these facts.
He explained that Cheshire Police have gone through massive budget cuts and that resources were very limited, but no matter how many times Cheshire Police attended on Moorfield Road a positive effect only happened whilst they were there. We have always fully understood that Cheshire Police cannot be in attendance on Moorfield Road 24 hours a day 7 days a week and this is why Halton Borough Council need to implement measures that would reduce the danger and problems of road safety that we continually have to raise with Cheshire Police. Unfortunately, no matter how many measures HBC say they have introduced on Moorfield Road, it is obvious to anyone that none of the interventions are having the desired effect, which is why we have been pushing for different solutions.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: POSSIBLE PUBLIC MEETING!
We have written to Mr Polhill Leader of Halton Borough Council to formally request a public meeting regarding the serious road safety issues on Moorfield Road. Previously Mr Polhill and his fellow Local Councillors have refused face to face meetings with the Moorfield Road Action Group and individual residents but this cannot continue. As he and his fellow Local Councillors continue to ignore correspondence sent by The Moorfield Road Action Group and also correspondence sent by individual residents living on Moorfield Road, we feel that the only solution is to hold a meeting between all parties. The Moorfield Road Sports and Social club would be the ideal location to hold a meeting but would have to allow for a high attendance bearing in mind how many residents have signed our petition. If a meeting is agreed to by HBC then this will be our opportunity to have our say. So please will you attend? We will need as many residents as possible to attend this very important meeting, assuming that HBC agree to this!!!!