Park Barn Residents Delighted with Cabell Road Repairs

Published on: 12 Mar, 2013
Updated on: 14 Mar, 2013

There’s a smother ride in Park Barn now that important resurfacing work has been completed.

From left: Wayne McShane, Andrew Halliday (in the bus’s cab), Cllr Julia McShane, Ernie Marshall, Cllr Fiona White and Fred Smith, on a stretch of the newly resurfaced Cabell Road in Park Barn.

On Monday local councillors and community stalwarts had an exclusive circular tour around the estate in a Safeguard bus to get a feel of what the new road surface is like compared to the roads that are still in need of attention.

And residents have been commenting on how pleased they are with the contractors who did the work on behalf of Surrey County Council. They say that members of the road-mending team were extremely co-operative and considerate and kept them up to date with progress of the work and tried to keep disruption to a minimum.

Contractors speaking to residents said that, although the job was very difficult, it was a pleasure working in Cabell Road because “local people had been friendly and co-operative” and that “Park Barn is a lovely community”.

While the repairs were being undertaken Safeguard had to re-route its buses along Broomfield and Pond Meadow. And councillors say thanks are due to the residents who co-operated with an emergency Surrey County Council traffic order preventing parking in certain areas to allow the buses to get through the narrower roads.

Guildford West county councillor, Fiona White (Lib Dem), has been campaigning to get Cabell Road repaired since 2005.

She said: “The whole road needs to be repaired but the most seriously damaged part was between Harts Hill and Stony Brook where the concrete slabs were broken, sunk to a depth of six inches in places and were rocking each time a lorry or bus went over them!

“Residents were reporting damage inside their homes caused by the vibrations of the movement of the road when large vehicles went past outside.”

The Guildford Dragon NEWS went on the bus trip around Park Barn to get e feel of the new road surface (like a billiard table) and sections that await repairs (a bit of a rocky ride).

Last year Fiona organised a petition which was signed by more than 100 people and which was presented at the Guildford Local Committee meeting in June by Wayne McShane, the chairman of the Park Barn & Westborough Community Association. Residents also went to that meeting and spoke of their concerns for the safety of road users and also of the damage that was being caused to their homes.

Work to repair the road began in November. But soon the contractor discovered what local people had feared all along, that the road was seriously compromised because rain had been getting in between the unsealed joints of the concrete slabs and had effectively washed the ground underneath away.

The scheduled six-week job therefore became a major repair which lasted until February 28.

Along with Cllr Fiona White; ward borough councillors; the chairman of the local community association, Wayne McShane; the managing director of Safeguard Buses, Andrew Halliday; and residents worked together with Surrey County Council’s highways department and the contractor, not only to get the work done in the first place, but to maintain a vital bus service for the duration of the work.

Safeguard’s Andrew Halliday also praised the efforts of all involved in the creation of a diversionary route through Park Barn while Cabell Road was closed, allowing frequent bus services to continue to operate throughout providing a valuable service to residents.

He said: “Park Barn & Westborough Residents’ Association, Councillor Fiona White, Sara Pegram from SCC highways and Rob Mackenzie from SCC transport in particular were very helpful.”

“We now look forward to giving our customers a much smoother and rattle-free ride along Southway”he said.

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