Making our town safer for walking and cycling
Thank you again for taking part in the Town Council's work to explore ways to make social distancing easier and taking exercise around the town safer.
Your individual comments on our interactive map identified several identified danger spots for pedestrians and cyclists, with a wide range of solutions suggested that would help you feel safer to walk and cycle in the area.
There were numerous comments highlighting the danger to cyclists following the Horsetrough Roundabout ”improvements”. The Town Council is continuing to push the County Council to take urgent action to make this safer and the scheme is now being reveiwed. We will share more news as this progresses.
The responses identified sevearl places where pavements need re-surfacing and clearing of vegetation, particularly on the approaches into Stonehouse from surrounding villages. This work is the responsibility of the County Council and we have requested that GCC take action urgently i nthese locations.
There were also several footpaths identified that if was felt could be widened and many respondents felt more needs doing to make the Shared Space on the High Street effective and to improve safety around the school entrances on Elm Road, the Coop and the top of Regent Street. The consultation also generated some some ideas for strategic projects including develping the railway footbridge to enable employees on the Industial Estate to pop into the High Street and a cyclway linking Stonehouse to the Cross Keys roundabout on the other side of J12 of the M5. All these comments have also been shared with the County Council and we will continue to work with GCC and neighbouring parishes (Standish Parish Council) to try to find ways to take forward these suggestions, whether in the short term or as part of longer, strategic projects.
Traffic speed is a major concern to many people and around 2/3 of respondents said they would support temporary measures to reduce traffic speed and /or volumes, with over half supporting making these permanent. Several locations were identified where it was felt that enforcement of traffic speeds or parking restrictions is needed for the safety of pedestrians.
The Town Council is committed to encouraging more walking and cycling in order to reduce car use in the town. This consultation has given us a useful picture of where we need to prioritise our efforts in order to make residents feel safe to do this; thank you again for taking the time to respond.