Letter: There Is a Glaring Error in the London Road Project Plan

Published on: 6 Dec, 2022
Updated on: 5 Dec, 2022

From: Graham Hibbert

In response to: Residents and Councillors Want to Engage on London Road Project – Does SCC?

I live just off the London Road and can confirm that no one around where I live has told me that they were included in the consultation.

There has clearly been a major failure in communication with residents so that they can properly prepare for the changes and have the opportunity to voice their views to make the plans better.

I support measures to increase cycling and walking in Guildford on both environmental and health grounds and particularly for school children. That this will involve change is a given.

However, the glaring error in these plans is the failure to include the removal of the slip road from the Boxgrove roundabout in this phase. That means the vehicles will approach the narrower London Road too quickly, so discouraging walking and cycling. That this change may be included in a later phase is not good enough as who knows when this will occur, if it ever does.

Responses to Letter: There Is a Glaring Error in the London Road Project Plan

Alfie Simmons Reply

December 6, 2022 at 11:24 am

The letter highlights the wider issue of how cyclists and pedestrians will safely travel from Guildford to Burpham across Boxgrove roundabout. I may be looking at the wrong plans (details are hard to come by), but there’s no proposal to improve the crossing on the Stoke Park side of the roundabout. Cyclists and pedestrians will therefore have to continue with the dangerous prospect of crossing three carriageways to join this new Burpham cycling network.

One of these carriageways is a particularly nasty, merging two-lane carriageway, another an extra-wide carriageway that’s splitting into two lanes, and the third, as Graham notes, a slip road where cars regularly zip around in excess of the speed limit.

There are alternative options to removing the sliproad to achieve the aim of making pedestrian and cyclist crossing safer such as toucan crossings or Dutch roundabouts (which give priority to cyclists over cars). Some joined-up thinking from the planners on safely connecting cycle routes would be most welcome.

If the goal of the Burpham scheme is to encourage cycling into and out of Burpham, this must be addressed.
John Squire Reply

December 8, 2022 at 7:51 pm

I think Surrey County Council has been economical with the truth on the timing of the works.

If you Google Surrey County Council road works map and get the map up, you can see what road works are planned for the next week, three months or one year. If you click 1 year you will see that the Phase 2 works are expected to be completed on November 18 2023. We have been led to understand that it will be finished on May 31, five months earlier.

See: https://guildford-dragon.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Screenshot-2022-12-09-at-11.59.42.png
A spokesperson for SCC said: “This is the standard timing for the permit and it will be amended to reflect the updated end date of 31 May 2023.”