The Parish Council has issued a notice regarding the walking and cycling route along Woodbury Lane between The Retreat and Worcestershire Parkway. This route is part of the ATC (Active Travel Corridor) between Worcester and Pershore.
Dear Resident
On Tuesday February 25th 2020 Norton-juxta-Kempsey Parish Council met with Councillor Ken Pollock, Cabinet Member with responsibility for Economy and Infrastructure at Worcestershire County Council (WCC) (KPollock2@worcestershire.gov.uk), to discuss our concerns over the safety of the advertised walking and cycle route (the ATC or Active Travel Corridor) from Brockhill Lane to Parkway station. The Parish Council believes the section from The Retreat along Woodbury Lane to the new station footpath by Norton College to be particularly dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists due to the narrow winding nature of the road, lack of pavement and the ever increasing volume of traffic using Woodbury Lane as a “rat-run”.
The Parish Council has been pressing since 2014 for traffic calming measures along the ATC route and during 2019 we were “promised” improvements with a road design that gave us both an acceptably safe ATC, as well as the traffic calming measures we have been asking for.
This commitment was subsequently reduced to a core design with traffic lights on the railway bridge and changed priorities at The Retreat road junction.
Even this has now been withdrawn “due to lack of funding” and we are now told by Councillor Pollock that no further improvements will be made until WCC sees sufficient demand for walking/cycling usage of Woodbury Lane. In the meantime, the existing signage and road markings recommending its use as an ATC will remain in place.
This lack of action on a key walking and cycling route is seen to be in direct conflict with both Government and WCC declared policies to encourage walking and cycling and reduce car usage. The Parish Council will continue to engage with WCC and other bodies to press for these critical safety improvements to be made.
Until such improvements are made, the Parish Council believes that it cannot recommend the use of Woodbury Lane between The Retreat and Worcestershire Parkway for walking or cycling and anyone who chooses to walk or cycle is strongly advised to take the greatest possible care for their personal safety.
Norton-juxta-Kempsey Parish Council March 2020
The decision to publish this notice was taken following a meeting between the Parish Council and Worcestershire County Council Cabinet Member for Economy and infrastructure.
Councillor Ken Pollock (KPollock2@worcestershire.gov.uk).
You can also read the full minutes of the meeting held on the 25th February 2020 here:
Active Travel Corridor Meeting Notes
Please see my emails to and from Dr Pollock
Dear Mr Mounce,
I am sorry to read that you do not consider it worth continuing our exchange.
What you are suggesting is that anyone wanting to business or any kind on the industrial estate, including working there would never accept the risk of walking, and would always drive.
In those circumstances., it is surprising that the County council was not made aware of the risks involved, although they might reasonably reply that these risks are duplicated in many places across the county.
Naturally, I hope there will be no cause to regret anything I have written to you or told your parish councillors.
Best regards,
Ken Pollock
Cllr Dr Ken Pollock,
Member, Tenbury Division,
Cabinet Member Responsible for Economy and Infrastructure,
Worcestershire County Council,
County Hall,
Spetchley Road,
Worcester,
WR5 2NP
0789 979 4858
01242 582025
________________________________
From: Clive Mounce [clivemounce@hotmail.com]
Sent: 13 March 2020 10:32
To: Pollock, Ken (Councillor)
Subject: Re: Woodbury lane
Why would Envirosort or the college and anything else on that estate need people to walk down Woodbury Lane. These places have their own private car parks and I dont know of any local people working or attending these places whereas the station is a different matter as locals use the station to go to Birmingham and the rest of the country
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________________________________
From: Pollock, Ken (Councillor)
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2020 11:24:07 AM
To: Clive Mounce
Subject: RE: Woodbury lane
Dear Mr Mounce,
Funny that the existence of the college, Envirosort and all the other businesses did not create a demand for people walkingon Woodbury Lane, but the station has.
I like the idea of putting money before lives. Every decision we make as a County could be judged in that fashion. It is the judgment of risk that is at the heart of most of our decisions.
Think children’s services, think adult social care. They take 70% of our budget, and practically every decision they make has implications for safe lives.
I do not object to making those decisions, but hope others might appreciate it is not such a simple matter to decide where money is spent…
Best regards,
Ken
Cllr Dr Ken Pollock,
Member, Tenbury Division,
Cabinet Member Responsible for Economy and Infrastructure,
Worcestershire County Council,
County Hall,
Spetchley Road,
Worcester,
WR5 2NP
0789 979 4858
01242 582025
________________________________
From: Clive Mounce [clivemounce@hotmail.com]
Sent: 12 March 2020 11:04
To: Pollock, Ken (Councillor)
Subject: Re: Woodbury lane
Dear Dr Pollock,
The reason it has not been mentioned before is that there was nò reason to walk down the lane. That has now changed with the coming of the station and for locals to leave their cars at home and encouraged to walk to the station via the foootpath next to the college. This should bave been considered and to put money before lives is appalling.
Clive Mounce
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________________________________
From: Pollock, Ken (Councillor)
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2020 9:48:52 AM
To: Clive Mounce
Subject: RE: Woodbury lane
Dear Mr Mounce,
Apologies for the confusion over names. The person who called had a similar name to yours, and I should have referred to my notes.
Woodbury Lane has not changed in character, except that we have drawn attention to the narrowness by painting double yellow lines along both sides. It is regrettable that only now do we hear from local people that it is too dangerous to walk along, given the incentive of using the new station.
We will endeavour to ensure that all road users are safe, while recognising that some solutions would be very expensive.
Best regards,
Ken Pollock
Cllr Dr Ken Pollock,
Member, Tenbury Division,
Cabinet Member Responsible for Economy and Infrastructure,
Worcestershire County Council,
County Hall,
Spetchley Road,
Worcester,
WR5 2NP
0789 979 4858
01242 582025
________________________________
From: Clive Mounce [clivemounce@hotmail.com]
Sent: 11 March 2020 21:42
To: Pollock, Ken (Councillor)
Subject: Re: Woodbury lane
Dr. Pollock just to let you know I have not telephoned you at all however on Saturday I have friends who live next to the retreat who wanted to go to the station and didn’t want to leave their car in the car park over the weekend. They asked us to take them down to the station in our car as they were too frightened to walk down Wadborough lane to the footpath for the station.
Thanking you for your reply,
Clive Mounce
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________________________________
From: Pollock, Ken (Councillor)
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 6:12:56 PM
To: Clive Mounce
Subject: RE: Woodbury lane
Dear Mr Mounce,
Thank you for your email and its warning. This repeat the concerns you expressed on the telephone.
I take the matter very seriously, and will ensure our highways officers are aware of your worry about pedestrian safety.
Best regards,
Ken Pollock
Cllr Dr Ken Pollock,
Member, Tenbury Division,
Cabinet Member Responsible for Economy and Infrastructure,
Worcestershire County Council,
County Hall,
Spetchley Road,
Worcester,
This was my first email to Dr Pollock
How can it be recommended for people to use woodbury lane to access the parkway by walking. Have you tried it? I doubt it. It is an accident waiting to happen. Be it on your head when there is a death because of the traffic and rat runners. I hope for your sake children or pushchairs aren’t involved
Clive Mounce
Bevere Lodge
Church Lane
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Thanks Clive for sharing this series of mails with our community. It seems that you found the exchange as frustrating as we did.
This has become a catch 22. I want to be able to walk the route, to save £5 parking fee, but having observed others attempting to walk the route would currently be foolish to do so. Certainly not in the winter. Cycling may be a better option. As an occasional visitor to Birmingham and Hereford for work I was hoping WP would be the solution to having to drive to Worcester. The infrastructure is not supportive of those who want to make the move from car to foot or cycle. Disappointed.
Thank you for your comment. It will be used to support our attempt to get improvements.
I am dismayed that as a local resident who wishes to use the Parkway station it is safer for me to drive to the station rather than walk or cycle.
How does this support a sustainable transport network?
In fact it now encourages more people to rat run through our rural roads to reach the station, therefore adding traffic to the narrow lanes rather than reducing it and therefore increasing the risk further.
Thank you for your comment. It will be used to support our attempt to get improvements.