Agenda item

10.30am   Report of the Chief Officer for Highways, Infrastructure Development and Waste (HIW/16/1) attached.

Electoral Divisions: Newton Abbot North, Newton Abbot South, Teignbridge South

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer for Highways, Infrastructure Development and Waste (HIW/16/1) in response to the Committee’s decision 14 July 2016 to defer consideration of enforcement of traffic speed on the South Devon Highway (SDH), for a report on the financial implications.

In July the traffic counter recorded poor compliance in the Yon Street area with the 50mph speed limit on the northbound carriageway and speeds had remained constant since June 2016. 

The Report gave a number of options with a range of effectiveness and associated costs.  As the SDH had not yet been open 12 months it was recommended that further speed and collision data was collected (as due to the limited history of the new road scheme there was no validated collisions data, usually released to the County Council in May of the following year).  When the data was available it was recommended this was considered within the County Council and Police joint procedure to allow concerns regarding the speed of vehicles to be assessed consistently (SCARF) across Devon. No budget was allocated at the time for speed enforcement within the building of the scheme.    It was also noted Part 1 compensation claims were anticipated from residents in Spring 2017 for noise and other effects on properties arising from the new road.

Local members were concerned that speeds remained well above 50mph speed limit with significant noise issues affecting residents in the Aller/Kingskerswell areas which was worst at night.  Two major incidents on the SDH had so far occurred, effecting the economy and operation of this main artery serving the South Devon area.  The local members reiterated that enforcement was key and would like to see action now but recognised the benefit of more comprehensive data, to enable to move forward within the next six months.

Members wished to see a more detailed report to fully understand the financial implications, particularly of installing average speed cameras due to their effectiveness over other measures and whether these were likely to be cost neutral due to revenue and accident reduction, with evidence of use by other LAs.  

In relation to the junction of Aller Brake Road and St Marychurch Road the former turn towards Newton Abbot at the bottom of Aller Brake Road had been removed with the new scheme due to the inability to turn across the dual carriageway.  However a new restricted junction at the top of Aller Brake Road enabled drivers to turn right into Aller Brake Road and left out, on to St Marychurch Road towards Newton Abbot.   Some drivers were ignoring the turning restriction and making illegal manoeuvers at the junction.  Whilst not a policing priority the Police had confirmed that enforcement would be carried out if a valid Traffic Regulation Order was in place.  Further discussions would take place to see what steps could improve compliance. 

Members considered the layout was not popular with the wider community (nor with the Police and Crime Commissioner), encouraged increased usage following the new SDH and with lack of enforcement saw frequent dangerous illegal manoeuvres, speed and regular shunts.   Members would welcome further data collection including traffic flows/camera to be discussed with local County Councillors, before any decision on the future of the junction.  

RESOLVED

(a) that data regarding vehicle speeds and collisions on the South Devon Highway be collected and considered in accordance with the County Council’s Speed Compliance Action Review Forum (SCARF) procedure and officers come back to this HATOC with a more detailed report on average speed cameras including the experience of other LAs;

(b) that the County Council work with the Police to improve compliance with the turning restrictions at the junction of Aller Brake Road and St Marychurch Road, with further data collection and report back to HATOC.