Good afternoon all, 

Update Received from HBC Highway Infrastructure Manager In receipt of the petition and is looking into improvements. 

My Response :

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your detailed response and for confirming receipt of my petition. I also confirm that, after some follow-up, I did receive the FOI information referenced in your email.

Having reflected on the points you raise, I feel it is important to clearly restate the core concern shared by many residents and regular road users: the issue is not pedestrian safety or crossings, but the signalisation of the roundabout itself. The traffic control system has introduced significant and ongoing problems, and public opposition to it is widespread.

While I acknowledge that some limited benefits have been noted, most commonly that exiting West View Road may be marginally easier, this feedback is overwhelmingly outweighed by negative experiences. In conversations with residents across the town and with people who use this roundabout daily, the prevailing view is that the current arrangement is counter-intuitive, disruptive, and has worsened overall traffic flow.

I appreciate that transport assessments and modelling indicate a need for signal control… However, the lived experience of drivers does not align with those conclusions. That disconnect is concerning, particularly when the impacts are felt daily and across a wider network. The fact that several planned signalised roundabouts now sit consecutively on the same route compounds congestion rather than alleviating it. Traffic coming to a standstill along this corridor is not something that additional signals can realistically resolve.

From a practical standpoint, what many see as the root issue is capacity rather than control, specifically the lack of adequate lane provision toward the A19 and similarly on the inbound route to town. A free-flowing design with appropriate lane capacity would, in my view and in the view of many others, address congestion far more effectively than further signal optimisation.

I genuinely hope the ongoing review gives full weight to the experiences of those who use these roads every day. As someone who drives this route regularly, it is difficult to reconcile the monitoring data with real-world conditions on the ground. I would strongly encourage the Council to consider whether removal of the signalisation, or a return to a free-flowing design, could provide a better long-term solution.

I appreciate the reassurance that improvements are being actively considered and I look forward to hearing the outcome of the current assessment. I am, as stated previously, more than willing to discuss this further if that would be helpful.

Kind regards

Joe Layton

 

Just to keep everyone on the same Page I responded as such because I and others who have signed and I have spoken too, believe the control needs removing and not adjusting. I have made this stance clear as we proceed forward.