Letter: I Cannot See How There Would Be Room for Mini-roundabouts

Published on: 28 Sep, 2023
Updated on: 28 Sep, 2023

Farnham Road

From: Howard Moss

In response to: Mini-roundabouts Would Calm Farnham Road Traffic

Lee Padgett is partially correct, the no left turn was raised by a concerned resident out of concern for any child that may be trying to cross over the The Drive, but not over the Farnham Road.

The consultation offered a number of options all which included the no left turn from Farnham Road into The Drive as it is a tight bend. What they did not include was the no right turn we ended up with from The Drive onto Farnham Road.

The result has forced traffic to use Friars Gate and Scillonian Road. As far as I know, no traffic survey was carried out on those junctions prior to instigating the change.

“Not liking it” is not the issue. It is far more dangerous to use the other two turns due to the road layouts: Friars Gate slopes back and away and both have obscured sight lines due to trees.

I cannot fathom how mini-roundabouts would fit into the road width at those junctions without cutting away pavements and private gardens at the the junctions to allow sufficient space for manoeuvre at a roundabout as can be seen from the mini-roundabout at the bottom of the Farnham Road.

Responses to Letter: I Cannot See How There Would Be Room for Mini-roundabouts

Lee Padgett Reply

September 29, 2023 at 9:54 am

Howard Moss has distorted what initially happened. However, we all want to have safety as a priority and crossing the Farnham Road was raised by all who contributed to the debate about The Drive.

The issue was made much larger. You could cut into the bottom slopes of The Mount, but surrendering that ground would raise lots more debate.

Other traffic calming measures eg speed humps (cushions,etc) would not be welcome for many reasons. Average speed cameras may work, but is clearly expensive, and does not facilitate cars turning out of side junctions.