Worplesdon Parish Councillors Take Action To Improve Road Safety on Busy A323

Published on: 20 Oct, 2017
Updated on: 20 Oct, 2017

Members of Worplesdon Parish Council have cleared back vegetation by the side of a busy main road to improve road safety for pedestrians.

Pictured from left: Worplesdon Parish Council’s vice-chairman, Chris Venables; its chairman, Dr Paul Cragg; and Cllr Nigel Mitchell, while clearing the vegetation and also making the road sign more visible.

The parish council has has been campaigning for a safe crossing point on the A323 (Aldershot Road, near Fairlands) close the entrance to Hunt’s Farm for over 25 years.

In 2009 it paid for two school crossing signs and a dropped kerb in an attempt to improve road safety at the location, at a cost of £4,500.

Two years ago, Surrey County Council designed and set aside funding for a much-needed pedestrian refuge.

The parish council says: “Regrettably, due to complications regarding the use of a small area of common land required to widen the road to accommodate the pedestrian refuge and facing unprecedented financial constraints, Surrey County Council has subsequently had to withdraw the funding for this project.

Getting to grips using a chain saw.

“Appreciating the difficulties being encountered by parents and pupils running the daily gauntlet of crossing the busy A323 to reach Worplesdon Primary School, the parish council took the practical step to cut back vegetation which is interfering with sight lines and narrowing the pavement. This has been done under the auspices of the Localism Act of 2011.”

Features off the Act include “giving councils more freedom to work together with others in new ways to drive down costs. It gives them increased confidence to do creative, innovative things to meet local people’s needs”.

Having sought consent from Surrey Wildlife Trust, an intrepid, dedicated and enthusiastic group of councillors that included the chairman and vice-chairman of Worplesdon Parish Council, both of whom are qualified to use chainsaws, set to.

On Tuesday, October 17 the clearance work began that included the removal of blackthorn bushes, sapling trees and brambles and “siding out” the pavement to push it back to its full width.

The work included clearing blackthorn bushes, sapling trees and brambles.

While a lot was achieved, further work parties will be required to complete the task.

Worplesdon Parish Council welcomes volunteers. If anyone would like to assist with this, or other clearance work around the parish, please contact parish clerk Gaynor White on 01483 300094 email; her at: clerk@worplesdon-pc.gov.uk

Responses to Worplesdon Parish Councillors Take Action To Improve Road Safety on Busy A323

John Robinson Reply

October 24, 2017 at 8:05 am

Definitely, a very good idea, to clear back undergrowth and improve visibility for all (why doesn’t SCC do more of this?). On some roads, you cannot actually even see warning signs until you are very close – they are almost completely hidden by tree branches, etc). Likewise the need for a safe crossing point at Fairlands – although this could also slow the “escape” of traffic from Guildford itself and increase congestion even further (the removal of the subway and replacement with lights outside Debenhams is a prime example of congestion cause).

Talking of safe crossings, I’ve contacted SCC several times about the traffic lights at Stoughton Crossroads on Worplesdon Road. At these lights, there is no Green Man display to enable pedestrians to see when it is safe to cross. You have to rely on guesswork while carefully watching the traffic flow.

I’ve been caught out a few times here, and have seen this happen to other people, including with young children; there is a school very close to that crossing. When I have contacted SCC, they are amazingly apathetic – their response is basically, “Well, no one has been injured or killed yet, so we don’t need to install any additional pedestrian aids.”

It always seems the case with SCC – wait until something serious happens, then do something – but, of course, it’s too late by then.
- John Perkins Reply
  
  October 24, 2017 at 3:48 pm
  
  I once encountered the same attitude from the police: being told, “People have to learn to cross the road,” as though choosing to cross were the same thing as being forced to walk in the road.
  
  Better results can sometimes be achieved if the words “risk” and “liability” are mentioned. Possibly better still if you tell them the conversation may be recorded for training purposes.