Agenda item

(Report by Mid Kent Transportation Manager)

(Councillor J Wright, Chairman of Swale JTB, was present for this item)

(1)         A petition signed by 76 residents of Ruins Barn Road was submitted by the Ward Member for Woodstock requesting that traffic calming measures and crossing points be introduced on Ruins Barn Road.  Ruins Barn Road, shown in the Appendix to the report, was unclassified and was primarily a rural road, with development only in part, on one side, running from Tunstall towards Woodstock. The road was subject to a 30 mph speed limit along the developed area and was derestricted south of the built up area.

(2)         A report was presented to the Swale Joint Transportation Board (JTB) in March 2007 which recommended that no further action was taken and that the petitioners’ representative was notified accordingly.  Members of the JTB recommended that an interactive speed sign be erected in Ruins Barn Road and that other safety measures be considered along the whole length of the road.

(3)         In circumstances where there was a clear conflict of outcomes between officer recommendations and the JTB resolution, the issue was referred to the Highways Advisory Board for consideration.

(4)         A comprehensive investigation was carried out and involved a speed/volume survey along the 30 mph section of road and visual assessment of the highway environment and analysis of the personal injury crash record. The speed data recorded was summarised as follows:-

(5)   Examination of the injury crash data revealed that there were two slight injury crashes

in the three-year period up 30 September 2006. Both incidents involved the loss of control of vehicles travelling towards Sittingbourne and one was alcohol related. It was not possible to establish any pattern which connected both incidents and therefore no mitigating intervention was advised.

(6)         The current criteria governing the introduction of safety cameras was that they must only be used as a crash reduction measure and not as a speed reduction device. Under the current criteria, there would need to be a minimum of 3 crashes resulting in serious injury or fatality within one kilometre for a site to qualify for consideration. Each year the County Council’s crash database was examined to establish locations where there were high incidents of personal injury crashes.  The locations were then looked at in detail and assessed for possible crash reduction measures and inclusion in the following year’s Integrated Transport bid.

(7)         Where conventional safety measures were either deemed inappropriate or likely to be ineffective, interactive speed signs could be considered, but they were also subject to specific criteria and should only be used where there was evidence of excessive speed and/or injury crash problems.

(8)         A more general issue of concern to the residents of Ruins Barn Road was the planned expansion of the Kent Science Park and the impact any additional traffic would have on Ruins Barn Road.  This concern was a separate matter that would be fully examined under the planning process.

(9)         Speed reducing measures should only be introduced if the circumstances justified their introduction and had to be appropriate to the local conditions, existing traffic speeds and crash record if they were to bring any benefit in terms of improved road safety. It was therefore paramount that we dealt with actual problems rather than the perception of a problem.

(10)          Based on the evidence collected and examined and the current criteria governing the introduction of a speed camera and/or interactive speed signs, it was not possible to justify such intervention or justify the introduction of any other type of speed reduction measure along the speed restricted section of Ruins Barn Road.   

(11)          Mr R Truelove moved, Mr T J Birkett seconded as an amendment:-

            “That an interactive speed sign be erected in Ruins Barn Road.”

Lost 3 for, 5 against

(12)     The Board supported the proposal for recommendation to the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste, that no further action be taken and that the petitioners’ representative be notified accordingly.