Kingsway Villagers

Attention Kingsway Village: Important Notice

Following the Residents Association Meeting on 14th May 2010, I reported that Andy Smith (QUVL Project Manager) said:

the QUVL plans to examine all the roads and have the double-yellow lines repainted so that they’re clearly visible

Andy has been in touch recently and said:

Yellow Lines will be done on 4th, 5th & 6th of August.

We will have CPS enforcement on site who will temporarily lift any cars out of the way to enable the lining, and replace them afterwards…

It would be a great help if people didn’t park in Thatcham Ave and Valley Gardens on these dates to mimimise any “Where has my car gone?” questions.

I will pass the word along to my neighbours and recommend that everybody takes this advice… the fewer cars there are, the quicker the job will be done!

Before anyone asks: I don’t know the exact plans… We’ll have to wait & see

I live in Marham Drive and I am sick to death of the inconsiderate people living in Thatcham Ave and opposite Marham Drive who continually park in the entrance.

I know where they live and the cars they drive, they all have adequate off road parking space but constantly park in and opposite Marham. I can imagine that this will only get worse when and if yellow lines are added.

As I type this one of their cars is parked in the entrance tonight. It is extremely dangerous and my wife witnessed a near miss with another “Marham parker” earlier. This person came extremely fast around the corner, avoiding the other Thatcham car and almost having a head on collision with a car exiting. This person looking sheepish then drove off and parked near to their house! It is nightmare trying to exit in the morning with these parked cars.

I fully appreciate that there are road works going on at the minute. But these people have ample of road parking and are too lazy to use it or park a bit further down Thatcham Ave.

I respect those living in Thatcham who are parking considerately, but despise the others who do not and live in the vicinity of Marham Drive. These few bottom feeders are giving the other good people of Thatcham a bad name. So if you are one of those and are reading this: MOVE YOUR CAR TO WHERE YOU LIVE!

I could not care less if you think I have no community spirit – I am sick of these people who continually park here, particularly when they do not live in Marham Drive and are causing a danger to others.

Hi all,

I have been living on Thatcham Ave for 2.5 years now and would agree with Barry’s comments regarding where do visitors and friends park. The parking issue really needs addressing and a compromise must be found.

I find it very sad that neighbours have already fallen out over this issue. The end of the day we all have to live here. You can’t put yellow lines all the way down a road and give no alternative parking. This is not a solution and in fact has caused more bad feelings because residents and visitors have to then park in the smaller roads off Thatcham Ave and fight over the few spaces available.

We only have one parking space in front of our garage that is behind our house. We are unable to park our car in the garage because like so many other people we use it for storage. We were told by the developer on a site visit that the loft in our townhouse was not built for storage of heavy items! I would be keen to hear if anyone else was told this?

We did raise our concern about parking with the sales office and were told that we could park on Thatcham Ave’ and there was no need to be concerned. Had we known about the double yellow lines before we purchased the property we would have bought somewhere else.

Kingsway is conveniently situated to the motorway and people that commute were bound to be attracted to living here. They are even talking about changing Junction 12 due to the increased volumes of traffic. We have to be realistic and practical, not everyone can cycle to work or has a direct route using public transport. Most of the houses are 3-4 bed family homes, but no one appears to have considered the parking required when building.

There is no easy solution, however if you drive around other estates in the area and even in town there are roads a lot narrower than Thatcham Ave and yet they seem to be allowed to park on one side of the road and have no issues. Am I missing something here?

There are idiots and inconsiderate people who do cause obstructions on the pavement and park on both sides of the road making it difficult for everyone and these people should be clamped, but for the rest of us who just want to get on with life and not have to worry about where am I going to park, is that really the answer?

I also don’t understand why people who have a driveway that can accommodate 2 or more cars insist on still parking on the road? This really frustrates me. I do not park outside my house because I’m lazy I literally don’t have anywhere else to park, so please can people be less quick to judge and stop suggesting that people use their garage and drive as this is not helpful.

Would parking permits at least help solve the visitor parking issue?

Hi all,

anyone know what’s going on with the wheel clamping in Kingsway?

I rang the Project Manager some time ago to ask what was happening, as clamping had started on Thatcham Avenue (around 12 months ago). He told me that TA was not part of the clampers remit and got them to remove all the signs etc…

This morning I woke up to find a car outside being clamped by CPS (those of crimewatch fame) and when I asked the chap what was going on he said they’d been asked to start clamping on the street again a couple of weeks back and he pointed to 1 sign on the first lampost on Thatcham Avenue (I haven’t seen any more anywhere else… ‘though there may be, in my opinion it’s not clear but hey ho)!

Tried to ring the Kingsway Village people but couldn’t get through.

I’m a bit concerned about this occuring again. Is this still because the road hasn’t been taken on by the Council and thus these cowboys are free to do what they want?

Can anyone fill me in?

Many Thanks,

T

As mentioned previously, I have asked the Gloucestershire Highways to highlight what action they are taking with regard to the junction and the incidents.  Coupled with this is what happens to us when we go into “lockdown”

Here are the responses about the Junction itself:  (Replies are in Green) – Please be aware that this is the pertinent info’ from a couple of emails which I have tried to put together.

“The concern is about people jumping the lights on the A38 from direction of the Motorway, heading to the City.  There has been a number of accidents, and more near misses.  While I personally feel there is nothing wrong with the junction design, I feel it would benefit from having some Traffic Light Cameras installed to deter people from jumping the lights.

‘Though the injury and risk of injury is high, the other reason this is a concern is that Kingsway is a “one way in, one way out” village at the moment, and any closure of the A38 effectively locks down the village.  And if there were to be another emergency (as there was last year) then Emergency Vehicle access is difficult at best”.

At the moment, there are no immediate plans to install a red-light running camera at the Kingsway junction. However, I can tell you that you are not alone in raising a concern about this junction and assure you that the situation is being closely monitored by colleagues in Road Safety and Gloucestershire Highways. Gloucestershire Constabulary is conducting a thorough investigation into the latest incident and all information gathered will be shared to inform any future decisions.

How many accidents are you taking into account in the evaluation on this junction to date?

For the evaluation of this junction we are using:

• Collision data supplied to us by the Police
• This data includes all of the reported collisions involving personal injury.
• We are using data covering the past 5 years (3?)

The details are as follows;

• November 2007 – Slight injury – Probable red light running
• November 2009 – Serious injury – Probable red light running
• March 2010 – Slight injury -  Loss of control
• And of course the recent collision where the cyclist was attempting a right turn manoeuvre.

How many accidents need to occur before more action is taken?

Site selection for both speed and red-light camera enforcement is currently in line with guidance published by the DfT in their Circular 1/2007, which mirrors the guidance that was applicable in the Handbook of Rules & Guidance for the National Safety Camera Programme prior to the closure of the programme at the end of April 2007.

The selection is based on a points value attributed to sites according to the number and severity of injury collisions that have occurred that are either speed related within a kilometre of the site for speed enforcement, or attributable to red-light running and occurring between the stoplines at a traffic light controlled junction. A fatal or serious injury collision is given a value of 5 points and a slight injury collision 1 point.

The minimum points value for the consideration of a red-light camera would normally be 10 with at least one KSI contributing to the points total. Sites that meet that minimum criteria would then have to be further assessed for suitability (ease of safe access for loading / unloading a camera, visibility, conspicuity, etc) and in the event that the number of potential sites exceeded the budget available to address them all would ultimately be prioritised according to greatest risk.

What other alternatives have actually been considered, if any?

Until recently there has been one injury collision per year – not an unusually high rate for signals on a strategic route such as the A38.

We monitor and compare collisions at all junctions on an annual basis – should this junction become an issue we will identify it along with other junctions at our next check.

In essence, there is not enough evidence to warrent any further action at this time, but it will be subject to ongoing evaluation.  I am awaiting a reply about the Lock down issues but I am lead to believe that some good dialogue is being had between Gloucestershire Highways and QUVL about the issue.

When I learn more, then I will post it.

Cheers,
Barry

I’m not sure if anyone has noticed, but the speed limit on Thatcham Avenue has now been changed to 20 MPH.

This is great news as Thatcham Avenue is ever more increasingly becoming a dangerous road to have to travel or live along.

Hopefully the road will be completed soon, as Taylor Wimpey have now completed their Bryant Homes development, (other than finishing the path off).

I am also hoping something will soon be done about the ridiculous parking situation.