Agenda item

·       Petition – Great Kingshill: to be presented by Jim Stevens.

·       Proposal for Average Speed Camera’s on rural lengths of the A40: to be presented by Jim Stevens.

·       Questions time: The Chairman will respond to questions from:

Ø  John McKeown and Geoff King – HS2 traffic and verge cutting.

To be presented by Jackie Binning, Community Board Co-ordinator for information purposes (part of agenda pack):

·       School Transport from September 2021.

·       Consultations: to review County wide and local, go to Your Voice Bucks website Your Voice Bucks - Citizen Space

Great Kingshill Petitions

Jim Stevens, Chairman of the North West Chilterns CB Traffic and Road Issues Action Group, provided a presentation, appended to the minutes, on the traffic issues in Great Kingshill. Two Petitions had been submitted to the Council in April 2021 by Great Kingshill residents, setting out their concerns with traffic on specific roads in the village – and specifically the impact of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and the narrowness of a section of Cockpit Road where HGV’s mount the pavement to pass each other. 

Jim stated that he was not employed by BC; he was a volunteer and local resident in the North West Chiltern area with experience of dealing with transport and road issues similar to those raised by Great Kingshill residents. Jim stated that his role was to take an independent approach. 

Jim described the residents’ concerns and the petitions, which sought to ban HGVs on a number of roads in the Great Kingshill area (shown on the map).  There was also a current planning application in for Binders Yard, but this petition response did not deal with the planning application as it was a separate matter and was being dealt with through the Council’s statutory planning procedures. 

Various data had been used by Council officers to assess the traffic conditions and this helped inform a comprehensive initial assessment of the issues raised by residents. Council officers had produced a report setting out their findings and this was appended to the minutes.

In summary, the following points were made:

• A classified traffic turning count was carried out every two years and the data was provided for the years 2016, 2018 and 2021.  The roads carrying the highest number of HGVs were Copes Road and Cockpit Road.  The traffic increase was shown in red fill on the slide showing daily traffic volumes.  There had been a small increase in the number of HGVs using Cockpit Road and a significant increase in light goods vehicles e.g. online shopping delivery vehicles.  Stag Lane had seen the highest increase.  Across Buckinghamshire, HGVs expressed as a percentage of daily traffic was 3-5%, nationally 5%; in Great Kingshill it was 1.1-2.6%. 
• Traffic speed had been measured in Cockpit Road which had resulted in speed enforcement discussions with Thames Valley Police and the possibility for local community speedwatch interventions.
• BC had a Crash Analysis Policy; the 5-year collision record for Great Kingshill had been checked in line with this policy and this showed that the thresholds for intervention by the Council, as the Highway Authority, had not been exceeded. Many other locations across Buckinghamshire exceeded the thresholds and this determined where interventions were being prioritised by the Council.
• The air quality in Prestwood on the A4128 was measured annually and the data showed that air quality had been largely static during the past 5 years and c.50% below the national threshold. The Prestwood data could be a reasonable proxy for air quality on the A4128 through Gt Kingshill.

The initial view of the petition request to ban HGVs from the roads in Gt Kingshill was that this would displace HGV traffic onto the A4128 and Peterley Lane/Nags Head Lane between Great Kingshill and Great Missenden and this would be unacceptable due to the physical constraints of these roads. The A4128 had a weak railway bridge / weight restriction in Great Missenden and would mean not all displaced HGVs would be able to use the A4128.  Peterley Lane/Nags Head Lane were unsuitable due to their width, alignment, lack of footways and topography.

For these reasons, Jim advised that it would not be possible to ban HGVs from all of the roads in Great Kingshill as requested in the petition. However, in recognising the resident’s concerns, two feasibility studies had been suggested for Cockpit Road and these could potentially be funded jointly between the Community Board and Hughenden Parish Council:

1.         Traffic management measures in Cockpit Road (To address safety concerns with the narrow length of the road).

2.         A 7.5 tonne weight restriction in Cockpit Road (With an exemption for access to properties).

Jim indicated these feasibility studies this would be a next step given the conclusions reached by Council highway officers in their assessment of the issues as set out in their report.

Other issues raised by the residents were highlighted along with the possible next steps.  Jim thanked all those who had worked on the issues to date and the following key points were raised in discussion:

• In response to the timeline for the feasibility studies to be carried out; Jackie advised that Hughenden PC would need to apply for the feasibility studies and Transport for Bucks (TfB) would put together a Project Initiation Document; the deadline for TfB applications was 30 September 2021.
• A resident raised concern over the Cockpit Road pinch point and requested that action be taken immediately to stop HGVs using the road due to the accident risk.  Jim stated that he fully understood that residents wanted action now, but a measured approach was important; it needed to be appropriate and pass safety audit and be technically feasible.  In the interim, community speedwatch and the Mobile Vehicle Activated Signs could be used and Thames Valley Police would be asked to consider carrying out speed enforcement . 
• The Chairman agreed it was a comprehensive report, and he understood the residents’ concerns, but it was not possible to stop the HGVs immediately. 
• A resident raised a number of issues e.g. breaches at Binders Yard which were not being dealt with; a report from Jacobs Babtie in 2005 which had identified major safety issues on the A4128 but no action had been taken; the skewed traffic figures for 2021; the deaths as a result of speeding which were not mentioned in the petition report or investigated at the time; the inadequate pathway and the trees/hedge had not been cut back on Cockpit Road.  The situation was another ‘accident waiting to happen’ and the liability sat with the Council.  The Chairman pointed out that Jim Stevens was not part of the Council, he was Chairman of the Action Group and was highly qualified.  The action group had looked in detail and fed back the concerns to the officers at the Council but there were other roads in the county which were considered a higher priority and that no immediate intervention was required.
• In response to a comment that the traffic was diverted from Cockpit Road when the count was in place and therefore did not provide an accurate view, Jim acknowledged that there was a possibility that some of the HGV traffic may have diverted from Cockpit Road onto Stag Lane as this road had seen the greatest increase in HGVs between the two traffic counts taken in 2018 and 2021.  However, even if the number of HGV’s measured in Cockpit Road had been greater without possible diversion onto Stag Lane, the recommendations of the report would have remained unchanged.  HGVs could not be banned on all roads in the Great Kingshill area due to the unsuitable nature of the routes this traffic would have to take between Great Kingshill and Great Missenden. 
• Volunteers were requested to carry out community speedwatch sessions.
• Confirmation was requested as to whether any member of the PC, BC or CB had notified Binders Yard that a road survey was being carried out; however, no one had any knowledge of any notification being issued.
• It was agreed that the residents should contact Jackie Binning if they required a further meeting.

Proposal for Average Speed Camera’s on rural lengths of the A40 – this would be discussed at the next meeting.

Question Time – HS2 and hedge cutting

Geoff King showed a map of the area of concern.  John McKeown and Geoff were both residents and stated that the traffic had increased on North Lee Lane, particularly HGVs, since Marsh Lane had been closed. The likelihood of a fatality was raised as there was four times as much traffic on the road, which was narrow, had blind corners and was a popular cycle route.  A speed survey had been carried out in October; some cars were recorded as travelling at 80 mph and there was an average speed of 40 mph.  The road was often icy in the winter and school children walked along the road; there was no pavement and there had been a number of incidents already.  A new dual carriageway would be built but would not fix the problem as satellite navigation systems took cars down North Lee Lane.  John McKeown advised that the issue was that the speed limit was 60 mph on a country lane, however, other roads in the area had a 40 mph limit.  The new Stoke Mandeville road would also have a 40 mph limit.  Traffic calming measures were required on the road along with confirmation as to whether there would be a junction from the new Stoke Mandeville road to North Lee Lane.

The Chairman suggested this be passed to the action group for investigation.  James Cripps, Great and Little PC, backed up the concerns and stated the increase in traffic volume had been spread around the parish, HS2 had cut off half of the traffic going to Aylesbury and he hoped a way forward could be found.

Jim Stevens outlined a possible way forward and advised that the officers at BC were in communication with HS2 to discuss the issues.  Jim invited Geoff and John to write a list of the issues outlined and send to Jackie Binning for discussion in the action group.

School Transport update – Jackie highlighted the school transport presentation in the agenda pack and reminded the CB that there were county-wide and local consultations on Your Voice Bucks.