The current Conservative Surrey County Councillor for Walton posted the following on one of her Facebook accounts last week, which we fear might be the long-awaited and delayed ‘update’ that we were repeatedly told to expect by 1st April. Please see the excerpt below:
“…WALTON ON THAMES LIVEABLE NEIGHBOURHOOD SCHEMES ACROSS SURREY
We are currently developing a programme of Liveable Neighbourhood schemes to be rolled out across Surrey which have the aim of providing local roads that feel safer and more accessible for the local community and other road users.
Delivery of Liveable neighbourhood schemes would include early community engagement to determine what measures would be appropriate and accepted by residents in that area, clearly one size doesn’t fit all.
Some of the highway measures that would be considered for inclusion in a Liveable Neighbourhood would be speed limit reductions, potential point closures, pocket parks, other community centric measures and increased sustainable travel opportunities.
This programme is currently in the early stages of development, however, I can confirm that Cottimore Lane and the surrounding roads are expected to be in the earlier phases of delivery of the programme.
The timing is dependent on several factors, such as prioritisation and access to funding which has yet to be identified so at this stage we can only advise that this a longer term route to making highway improvements at this location.
As described, the initial stage of the programme will involve progressing community engagement to determine what measures might be included in the scheme.
We anticipate being able to commence the engagement in the latter part of 2023/24 but as yet this is not confirmed. Delivery of any changes on the ground will be progressed in a future year when funding has been identified.
Similarly, we are also carrying out a review of the speed limits across all of the County’s roads. This is a strategic review and will consider what speed limits are appropriate for the different locations and road types in Surrey.
This may include increasing the number of residential roads that would have a reduced speed limit of 20mph, which potentially may be applied to Cottimore Lane. Again this is a longer term potential intervention as we need to firstly consult on any changes to our current approach, which we anticipate doing later in 2023/24, and then will determine a prioritised programme of implementation alongside identified funding.
Both of these activities will almost certainly achieve what is being sought by some of the residents in Cottimore Lane, however, I’m aware that they fall into the longer term scenario.
On consideration of the issues I will be progressing some interventions earlier in Cottimore Lane such as installing vehicle interactive signs as a potential option, however, I note that the effectiveness will be limited given the level of compliance with the existing speed limit. These earlier interventions need to be budgeted for.
I will be utilising the presence of more cars parked on the road to reduce speeds. I will be looking at installing bollards which would also enable us to restore the grass verges along this road thereby enhancing the street scene for the benefit of the local community. I will explore the possibility of tree planting options in the Cottimore Lane.
I am aware some other options such as ‘SLOW’ markings or false painted speed humps have been raised with me as potential solutions, however, I have been informed by Surrey Highways engineers that neither of these will provide the effect being sought and so I will not be progressing them i.e. once drivers know they are just painted, they will often be ignored on subsequent occasions.
Whilst advising on the options for Cottimore Lane, I would also like to highlight that we do have planned improvements in 2023/24 in respect to improving road safety outside of the Walton Oak School on Ambleside Avenue, which is to the south of Cottimore Lane…”
If this really is the update from Surrey County Council that we were told to expect, sadly it feels rather disappointing because it only appears to confirm are that Surrey County Council are going to do the following:
- Carry out a review of the speed limits across all of the County’s roads.
- Utilise the presence of more cars parked on the road to reduce speeds.
That is it…. The rest is exceedingly vague, noncommittal, and, in my opinion, near meaningless…
It feels that there is little in terms of a clear plan of action, a lack of clarity throughout, no clear timeframe on when any of the measures will likely be implemented, and there is a shortage of substance on any measures that will actually combat the problem of speeding across the whole of Cottimore Lane.
The one measure mentioned in the above that we have campaigned for, which is only a ‘potential option’, is the vehicle activated signs.
We also disagree with the statement in reference to the vehicle activated signs that “the effectiveness will be limited given the level of compliance with the existing speed limit”, considering the 2019 speed survey showed 39% of vehicles (more than 1 in 3) broke the speed limit on Cottimore Lane.
Many of the other ‘would be’ / ‘potential’ measures that ‘might be explored’ as a ‘possibility’ are likely to divide opinion with the residents.
Councillor Kevin Deanus, Surrey County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Community Resilience, has been asked to advise on the following:
- Whether this is indeed the 'update' that we were told to expect? - i.e. are we to expect no further detail or update until the 'latter part of 2023/24, as yet not confirmed, when it is anticipated that there might / might not / perhaps / possibly / could be some sort of consultation with the public?
- Whether it was considered that the other potential proposals would likely be divisive and whether perhaps it was intentionally designed in order to split public opinion, so that when Surrey County Council inevitably receive a high number of objections to the proposals no one asked for, it could be used as an excuse to end up taking little/no action on the matter?
We await Kevin Deanus’ response and will update you once we receive it.
In any event, sadly, we have been advised that the Highways Budget for Walton has already been allocated (including the additional £150,000) right through to the beginning of 2026.
But don’t worry, we won’t let that deter us in our campaign to make Cottimore Lane safer for our community as soon as possible!
A lot can change between now and 2026... There could be some big changes at Surrey County Council, and perhaps sooner than some might think…
We will keep you posted with any further news.
As always, please take care, stay safe and thank you again for your support.
Cottimore Lane Road Safety Campaign