All Aboard the Romsey Bus

Last time I tried this I was rewarded with a thread of joyous mockery, partly inspired by the parrallel thread "ChristianNymphos", but a few people said to me at the Winter Fair that they really appreciated it, so I am going to stick at it a bit longer.

Things that have been going on in Romsey since my last appearance here:

Mill Road Accident Reduction Scheme - The County Council tried to take away the money that was committed to Mill Road's accident reduction scheme a few months ago, but following a petition I organise with Nichola Harrison (County Councillor for Petersfield) we had our money (£400,000) reinstated. So this year's public consultation and accident reduction scheme will now be going ahead. At this early stage I'm thinking of something along the lines of: minimal shared space features (ie, no dividing line in the middle of the road, so motorists drive slower and are more careful), 20mph speed limit, and traffic-calming features at the various intersections along the road. Not sleeping policemen, but something like Chesterton High Street, where there is a short slope upwarsds, then a flat, bricked surface - possibly with a zebra crossing on top - and then a slope down. This would break the road up into shorter segements, and discourage speeding. Above all I've asked them to get the aesthetics right. Whatever is decided upon, it should enhance the character of the area. If anyone has any suggestions, fire away.

The Mill Road Masterplan (ongoing) - Romsey and Petersfield lib dems are gathering and collating all of the results from the various questionaires and surveys we have handed out over the last few months, in Focus leaflets and also at the Winter Fair, with a view to putting together a really ambitious plan for the future of Mill Road. This will integrate our longer term ambitions, more immediate aims, and our intention to make Mill Road the first Independent Business Zone in the country. More to follow in the next month or so, so keep your eyes peeled - one of the most painful metaphors there is.

Greening Romsey - I recently had a long meeting with County Officers about the traffic-calming improvements which are going to be implemented on Cromwell Road, with S106 funding. I'm happy with the scheme as it stands, and the Cycle Campaign have given it their seal of approval. The one thing I am pushing for, in response to East Mill Road Action Group's encouragement, is some tree planting to be included as part of the scheme. This would make Cromwell Road much more attractive for residents and I'm hoping that the City's coffers may allow us to really brighten up the area. I'm also trying to get officers to put together a serious, medium-term plan for planting trees in the ward.

Streetlighting - I've been pestering County officers about finally getting the new streetlights that we have repeatedly been promised on the Broadway. At this stage we are waiting for the Streetlighting Private Finance Initiative (now down to three bidders) to be finalised. When funding is finally made available it has been guaranteed that our streetlights will be among the first tranche of replacements. Indeed, I have been assured by officers that ours are likely to be among the very first, but at this stage no final commitment can be made, until the financing has been secured and the contractor consulted.

Tesco, Again - The first two appeals having been rejected out of hand by the Planning Inspectorate, further to a four day epic at The Guild Hall, Tesco have now appealed the third planning application: the extension to the rear of the site. So we can all look forward to going through the process once again. There are strong arguments against this extension. For one, the acoustic report used to substantiate its claims was misleading. But the overwhelming point which needs to be made is that, as the initial appeals were rejected due to the lack of a viable delivery system for Mill Road, why is this additional point even being heard? Perhaps Tesco thinks that if its proposed extension is permitted, it will simply be able to move in and set up shop. It needs to be made clear that until an adequate delivery system is installed (which is an impossibility) Tesco is wasting its time, and everybody else's. Fortunately the same Planning Inspector is managing the process, so he will understand the situation (one hopes)

Neighbourhood Speedwatch - I applied for this scheme about six months ago, and the County have now given us one of the initial trial units to use in the East Area. Anyone interested in volunteering should get in touch. Basically, this system records the speeds of approaching vehicles and relays them to the motorist if they are over the limit - repeat offenders receive a police letter. Data of speeding can also be used to get the Police / County Council to do speeding tests/prosecutions in the area, and to make them consider changing the speed limits. Contact me at kilian.bourke@gmail.com if you would like to help out.

The consultation on improvements to the Rec at the end of Ross Street / Hemingford Road etc is going ahead, with work scheduled to begin later this year.

This is a bit short and I've skipped some of the smaller stuff out this time. I may add some more detail tomorrow if I have a chance.

Any questions / thoughts, you can reply to this thread, or email me at kilian.bourke@gmail.com

cheers, kilian

For the sake of the good lord Harry ,not another -lets pedestrianise Mill Rd thread.
Kilian it will never happen mate.Never.Have you seen Coldhams lane and Hills Rd at rush hour? Do you think doing away with Mill Rd would improve traffic flow.I for one say No.I would not welcome the idea and I live on Mill Rd.
The only way forward is to ban lone car driving,encourage more motorbikes and cyclists.Do away with the taxi card schme (make the old walk to a bus stop)and improve public transport.Making other roads worse to make one better is useless,not envirlomentally sound and is no good to anyone.

Plus another thing.This neighbour hood speed watch thingy.Bollocks.When on earth or should I say where on earth can you travel more than 30mph in Cambridge in the daytime.Last I saw its quicker to walk.

Bigmal, thanks for your reply. We're not talking about pedestrianising Mill Road. Just making it more pedestrian and cycle friendly. You're right, it is an arterial route, and completely closing it to traffic would make things even worse on Hills Road, East Road, Newmarket Road and Coldham's Lane. We are on the same page Bigmal, the right page. K

Speedwatch is designed to allow people to target speeding wherever and whenever it is a problem. Only an idiot would spend his time standing beside a traffic jam with speeding equipment. Most of the people who are planning to use it will be doing so in the evenings, on roads like Coleridgre Rd, or some of the backroads in Romsey, where boy racers try to improve on their lap times. So it's not as silly as it might sound at first Bigmal.

Go Killian. All power to you.

BB

I nearly got knocked off my motorbike today.Going along the road by tescos in cherry hinton when this cunt undertakes me while Im doing 30mph .We were on a single lane road.So I pulled alongside his car and he starts giving me the bird.Well thats it.I pulled in front of him and slowed right down.I was about to stop and give him a right seeing too when a police car turned onto the road.I caught up with them explained what happened I noticed the guy had pulled into Tescos so the police took a discription and went after him.Dont know if they caught the cunt though.Police probably didnt look very hard.

I think a 20mph limit would be a great idea, if it can be enforced. As well as improving safety, perhaps it would improve congestion if people aren't racing down the street only to join in the queuing at either end...

One thing I really don't like as a cyclist-turned-motorist is the narrowness of the bridge. I see so many people taking stupid risks to get around cyclists, and in fairness, plenty of cyclists that are going too slow to realistically be on the road up the hill. Is there anything that could be done?

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There's a 20mph limit on the Cowley Road in Oxford - a not dissimilar road to Mill Rd in some ways - it seems to work. I doubt I've ever been able to drive along Mill Road at more than 20 mph anyway - even when the road is clear it would be quite reckless, especially on, and in the vicinity of, the bridge. Banning cars is a non-starter, though.

re. the 20mph thing, there seems to be a mentality amongst motorists where the speed limit is seen as the recommended/minimum speed... Perhaps bringing it down would reduce some of the impatience?

I know it's rare you can hit 30mph, but I have seen some people travelling substantially faster. Cretins.

Thanks for the post Killian - it is nice to get know how things are going, and what is underway!

Being a Romseyite I really want to see more effort made to the area of Mill Road past the bridge. I have seen alot of plans and focus on the *main* Mill Road, but I always feel we get the raw deal!

As I have said before - The Hobart/Suez/Cypress road area needs a 20mph speed limit to be brought into line with the rest of the residential areas.

I don't want to start a Tesco's rant - but... As it stands they have every right to open a shop as it is without any planning changes and deliver however they like? If they do get an extension then that would still be the case unless there were conditions of planning that imposed limitations. But those limitations can only be imposed IF a planning application is made/approved?

And lastly - any idea about the plans for the Mosque and development on the old Robert Sayle site up by Spar on Mill Road?

Mowgli and Kuryakin - yes speeding's a problem, particularly around the bridge. I was looking at the "accidents map" of Mill Road and the densest areas are on either side of it. Part of the problem is motorists accelerating at the foot of the bridge to try and overtake cyclists before the top, which is pretty dangerous. The problem with 20mph is that the police refuse to enforce it, so it has to be a "self-enforcing" limit. Which is why we have been encouraging the council to consider introducing traffic-calming measures (not ugly ones) at the foot of the railway bridge, and possibly to introduce a "no overtaking cyclists" policy like there is on Hills Road bridge at present, although this would need to be consulted on. There would also be calming measures of some description at some of the junctions along Mill Road, to break it up, for motorists, into a more segmented route, where you can't build up much speed. But yes, banning cars isn't on the agenda.

Couldn`t you have a Scouser to enforce calming measures at junctions.

I have a problem with the fact the street lights will be fixed using PFI. Probably not the fault of the local government, but annoying nonetheless

Morsey - thanks for your reply. I couldn't agree more about Romsey's drawing the short straw. This is because the "city centre" and "conservation area" both end at the bridge. I recently applied for Romsey Mill Road to get conservation area status, which would be a help. But one of the driving forces of this Mill Road Masterplan is to improve those aspects of the Romsey stretch of Mill Road which are not very good. So - environmental improvements, better pavements, more trees, filling up empty shops, etc.

The problem with 20mph on Hobart, Suez Rd. etc is that the current 20mph policy makes it very difficult to introduce these speed limits on residential roads, unless you can produce proof that the average speed is already below 20mph. Speedwatch will help with this. But Romsey received its 20mph limits at a time when the policy was more sensible. The Tory administration changed it, against our advice, but they have finally agreed to "review" it - because this is election year and they have finally realised that it is hurting them electorally.

Re: Tesco, yes you are right, they could move into the shop as it is, if they did not desire to make certain improvements that require planning permission. They could still do this, but it seems clear that these improvements are necessary to making the site economically viable. It would be too small as it stands. Moreover, it looks very unlikely that they will get an alcohol license (although I'm not an expert on this), because of the new alcohol community partnership. (I can't remember its exact name, but it has been decided that Mill Road has reached "saturation point" as far as alcohol licenses goes, so it would require exceptional circumstances for another one to be issued.)

I'll get back to you on the Mosque / Sayle site - this is a city issue and i haven't heard much of late, but i'll follow it up

Yes, PFI is very bad, but it looks like that's the only way right now

Daggg- under the "Neighbourhood Speedwatch" scheme you could indeed have a scouser posted on the bridge. if you know a suitable candidate put him in touch

I do like Mill road, but why are there so many cunts down there on any given day and night? Baffling.

it does always feel a bit dangerous, turning right after the bridge into Argyle Street on a bicycle. Especially if some cunt does not understand that Argyle Street is one way

Marcos - a letter on this was meant to go out to residents of Argyle Street and the surrounding area some time ago, but there have been difficulties getting the necessary information from the police - I'll follow it up again. cheers k

Way to do it is to position yoursef in the middle of Mill Rd whilst starting to go up the bridge.Most accidents Ive seen is cyclist coming down the bridge, there is a nasty dip in the road right outside the hairdressers -opposite the council doodah.Really bad accidents as well.Watched as a girl flew past me and a mate and landed on her head and was still unconcious when the ambulance arrived.

Bigmal - cycling up the middle of the bridge is a good idea if you can do it, but sometimes deranged petrolheads go crazy and start driving into the back of ones' bike while honking their horns. This is why I think a "no overtaking cyclists" sign like they have on Hills Road might work. The left turn onto Devonshire Road is indeed a killer and needs to be addressed by the accident reduction scheme.

What's PFI?

PFI is, I think Private Finance Initiative

It is one of the ways you can fund a project when you need some capital funding to build or replace something. If you (local government) don't have public funding (usually from central government), you get a private organisation to pay for it, then you lease the project from them and pay them a regular revenue payment over a large number of years. It usually ends up that the public pay significantly more overall for the project. But it does mean that you can go ahead with a project that might never otherwise happen due to lack of public capital funding being available. However, it also hides the woeful lack of true investment in public services by the government of the day.

Private Finance Initiative.
In other words ,instead of the government or state being responsible for something (say the royal mai) they give the work out to tender and the company that says it can do the job best is meant to win.Sadly this equates (sp) into shit companys such as Capita putting in the cheapest bids and winning the contract.They then more often than not cannot carry out the job in hand and end up being bailed out by the govt but because the govt hands out contracts of say nine years or more they *the state will never be able to own the company again.
This is what has happened to British Rail.Some of the companies have kept to their promise and made good their contract (Virgin as much as I dont like them have actually made a good job of their railway franchise) but most have cocked it right up with the government actually spending more money sorting out the mess than it would have cost to stay state owned.

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New Labour are doing what the Tories wanted to do in the 90s (get rid of the state being responsible) although old Labour said they thought it a terrrible idea and would never do such a thing.
I cannot think of one success story with the PFI.... NHS,CRB checks ,Passports,Port Authorities,Rail,Highway Maintanence.All fucked up.
Yet the Govt are handing out more and more state owned buisiness to the PFI in an attempt to hide the fact they are fucking up the country badly.

Boudicea (i hope that is your real name, it is such a good one!), Bigmal and Lily P, Philosophers of the PFI, have hit the nail on the head.

Here is Wikipedia's collective gloss: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Finance_Initiative

Thanks for this info. I like your name too Kilian! I've admired it before.

Kilian be careful what you wish for mate.

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Kilian, if I understand correctly you are a councillor. It worries me that you are still up at 3am - I hope that this does not mean you are a) living a decadent lifestyle or b) a Thatcheresque oddball who only needs 3 hours sleep.

Try to set a better example to your subjects, er, I mean the residents of your ward.

(More serious afterthought) - one of the things that gives me a little glimmer of hope is the fact that there is still a healthy underlying cynicism in a lot of people - I don't know many people who don't see PFI in terms of 'contracts for your mates, or whoever gives you a backhander, followed by deterioration of service'.

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Killian

I've found your posts interesting. Can I ask for some advice? Is the East Area Committee the place to get things raised? I've been trying, since March last year to get fencing fixed in our street, Silverwood Close and to get someone to look at the verges which are being chewed up by cars parking over them. Our local councillor said she's been in touch with people about but nothing hasn't happened.

I suppose I'd better contribute with the Kings Hedges update

The big pothole in Campkin Road is still there, despite my complaints to the council. I'm going to come off my bike on that one day, I'm convinced. The little side road off Hawkins Rd is still unfinished, surrounded by fences, and is now starting to collect scrap metal. Scaffolding's off the flats now, though. Tesco's is still the champion spot for teenagers to hang around and shout - Arbury Court just isn't holding its end up. "The Socialists" have been round, but as per usual were too busy telling people that they are "The Socialists" to bother explaining why they were knocking on everyone's doors in the middle of tea.

I know it's not your responsability, but the road surface on Mill Road is really terrible. In places, like outside the Co-op pharmacy, it's just completely breaking up. It's quite dangerous for cyclists.

Kuryakin - i've got into the habit of staying up watching films to 4am and getting up after lunchtime. I can't seem to change this. i only wish i had the Iron Lady's metabolism (then again, it seems to have taken its toll on her...)

MrsSmith - Yes, East Area is one place to go. You are allowed to ask questions at the start, and because all of the different political groups are present there is pressure on whoever you are questioning to be helpful, because other councillors will tear into them if they are not. The amount of posturing that goes on is pretty unappetising. The only problem is the last EAC was only a week ago, so it will be another couple of months. If (as I think) you are in Petersfield, it might be a good idea to contact Nichola Harrison, who is very good at following up these things. Also, although she is County now, she used to be City, so she can deal with both Councils very efficiently. You could also phone up the City Council and ask who is responsible for fencing, and then try to deal with them directly, saying that you were assured that work was going to be done but nothing is happening. If you send a short email to kilian.bourke@gmail.com I can try to have a go for you.

Doris - i know, the pavements are pretty bad too. It's a combination of repeated cable-laying and utilities works (every time the road is dug up and put back together it gets worse) and plain old wear and tear. To be honest, the £400,000 we have for an accident reduction scheme isn't going to cover anything like a complete resurfacing, although it's something that would be part of the longer-term "Masterplan" we are putting toegether. (There will be a public meeting on this soon.) Maybe the ARS will be able to improve some of the sections cyclists use, by smoothing them out a little. I will pass this idea on to the officers. Cheers, kilian