Hello Everyone.
Hope you are all well and keeping an eye on the new site.
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Before we go any further. On behalf of the group may we offer our condolences and deepest sympathy to the families and friends of Richard Grayson from Nether Haugh farm. and Mrs Thompson from Daniels Lane
Who sadly passed away recently.
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After attending the Area Ass Meeting on monday 13th may 2013.
We arranged for the police to be present in the village on the following tuesday(21st) with the speed gun at several places throughout the village.
But as we all know when people see the high vis jackets they slow down and tend to warn other oncoming motorists.
From our point of view the results were to say the least dissapointing.
We will put these on the blog when we get them.
However further operations of a different type are being planned for the future.
But for obvious reasons we are not allowed to divulge any more details.
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Just a quick update to follow on from the Area Assembly Meeting on Monday 14th march.
below is the somewhat disappointing (but not totally unexpected) reply from RMBC Transport and Highways Officer. Nigel Davey.
More or less expecting this type of response. we have already been exploring other avenues. which hopefully will be more successful. We are still awaiting a response from police and crime commissioner. Shaun Wright. who we met in early February. We are also working with the South Yorkshire Police to Organise more Speed Enforcement Ops within our Village.
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G103.
NETHER HAUGH ACTION GROUP - REQUEST FOR ROAD
SAFETY
IMPROVEMENTS AT NETHER HAUGH
Consideration was given to the report
presented by the Manager of the
Transportation and Highways Design
Team, Streetpride, Environment and
Development Services, that outlined
the investigation works that had
taken place following the receipt of a
report submitted by the Nether
Haugh Action Group that requested road
safety improvements, including
traffic calming measures, a controlled
crossing and improved footways in
the village of Nether Haugh.
The report was presented to the
Council Meeting held on 12th
December,
2012, and recorded as a petition.
Officers had undertaken investigations
of the issues raised at the Wentworth
North Area Assembly in 2012 and
later submitted to the Council as a
report.
The submitted report noted the actions
that had been undertaken by
Officers to investigate the issues
raised: -
CABINET
MEMBER FOR REGENERATION AND DEVELOPMENT - 04/03/13 66G
· The volume of traffic using the road
(B6089), one of the main
routes between Rotherham Town Centre
and the Dearne Valley,
was considered suitable to accommodate
the type and mix of traffic
expected to use a B road. In addition,
there were no low bridges,
weak structures or width restrictions
on the road;
· Speed surveys had been undertaken at
three locations within the
village using the Association of Chief
Police Officers’ (ACPO)
guidelines for the enforcement of
local speed limits. None of the
locations met the ACPO guidelines for
enforcement measures.
However, the Safer Neighbourhood Team
had undertaken some
speed enforcement along this route and
had committed to return to
this location within the near future;
· The Wentworth North Area Assembly’s
Chairman had confirmed
that the Group did not wish to pursue
the option of creating a
controlled crossing;
· Investigation of the previous
three-years’ injury data did not
demonstrate that Nether Haugh was a
location that the Council
would consider as a ‘site of concern’;
· Investigation into the potential
widening of footways had been
undertaken. Any widening of the
footpaths would consequently
decrease the width of the carriageway,
increasing the potential for
head-on collisions. Existing footway
widths were 1.2 metres wide,
which was considered sufficient for a
pedestrian pushing a pram. It
was observed that the footway width
was reduced in some places
by overhanging vegetation from private
properties. The owners of
the properties would be contacted and
asked to cut back any
overhanging vegetation to increase the
public highway’s width.
For the reasons given, it was proposed
that a letter be issued to the
Nether Haugh Action Group to outline
that the issues not be acceded to.
Resolved: - (1) That the report requesting
improved road safety facilities
within Nether Haugh be noted.
(2) That the report author be informed
of the decision not to provide traffic
calming or improved footways, and the
reasons why.
(3) That Ward
Members be informed accordingly.
Please let Nigel Davey and us know your thoughts on the above report. email us at this address above. And Nigel Davey at Nigel.davey@rotherham.gov.uk (Please keep them clean)
Dear Steve,
Petition
for Road Safety Improvements – Nether Haugh Village
I am emailing
to let you know the outcome of the Cabinet Member meeting of the 4th
March 2013 at which the petition requesting road safety improvements through
the village was heard. The petition you provided and the issues you raised in
the petition were investigated and a recommendation by officers was made –
Cabinet Member resolved that at this moment in time, no road safety
improvements be implemented through the village.
As we
discussed at the meeting held at Rawmarsh Service Centre several weeks ago,
each year we investigate the whole of the borough to identify injury accident
locations based upon three years worth of data supplied by South Yorkshire
Police. This information is investigated further to establish whether there is
a treatable pattern of injury accidents that offer ourselves a reasonable rate
of return based on the accident saved against the cost of the scheme given that
we only have a limited amount of monies for introducing schemes of this nature.
The result of the latest annual investigation shows that the road through the
village of Nether Haugh does not feature on our list of sites of concern and as
such we would allocate any monies to this location.
With regard
to the volume and speed of traffic through Nether Haugh, as I’m sure you
appreciate the road is a B classified road and as such it is suitable to
accommodate the type and mix of traffic using the route. As you are aware,
speeds through the village have been recorded at various points and the 85%ile
speeds (the speed at which 85 out of every 100 vehicles travel at or below) is
below the speed enforcement trigger (based on the Association of Chief of
Police Officers ACPO) guidelines. However, I am aware that the local Safer
Neighbourhood Team’s have and would appear to be willing to undertake sporadic
enforcement and that you are in contact with them with regards to this.
You will
recall at the same meeting that the issue of providing a controlled crossing
(i.e. zebra / puffin crossing) in the village was discussed and it was agreed
that this suggestion was, based on the Councils criteria for installing such
features, was unlikely to be successful. This ‘conversation’ outcome was
included within the report to Cabinet Member.
Finally, the
issue of widening footways was investigated but as highlighted within your
petition, the road though the village is narrow and whilst currently being
suitable as a B classified road any footway widening would reduce the
carriageway width further still. There is therefore little scope for widening
the footways throughout the village.
Whilst I
appreciate that you this may not be the outcome that you were hoping for, I
trust that you can appreciate the reasoning behind why the decision has been
reached.
Regards
Nigel
Davey
Transportation
and Highways Unit
Environment
& Development Services
Rotherham
Metropolitan Borough Council
Tel:
(01709) 822380
Internal
from new:22380
Below is a Selection of Replys to Nigel Davey at R.M.B.C. Transportation & Highways.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 3:20 PM
Subject: Nether Haugh
Dear Mr Davey
As a resident of Nether Haugh, I
read with interest your report following the Action Group's request for road
safety improvements.
My question to you is, can we quote
you directly to the press when someone inevitably is killed in our village ?
The aim of the Action Group is to be
proactive in avoiding serious or fatal injuries, and you appear to be saying
that until there are more casualties you will not take action to prevent them.
Rather "shutting the stable door" I think.
The last thing I want to see is
someone badly injured or worse, killed, outside my home. I have already
witnessed a car upside down in my next door neighbour's garden. The driver was
injured but fortunately there was no-one in the child seat in the back or this
could have been your "statistic".
There was also a motorcyclist laid
in the road outside my gate waiting for an ambulance recently, in a very poor
state. These are people with families and friends who care about them, not just
numbers.
All we are asking for are some
measures to slow traffic as they come down the hill into the village. The
flashing sign just seems to encourage them to see how fast they can register.
We are not the experts in this field, but common sense seems to say we need
either rumble strips on the road or a mini roundabout at the junction with
Cortworth Lane. Anything to slow people down enough to stop them running into
the back of right turning traffic.
Trusting you will give this issue a
little more thought than the rather dismissive sounding response we had last
time.
Yours faithfully
Angela Lawrence
42 Nether Haugh
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Good morning Nigel,
Thank you for your email & the copy of your report, and yes, you are
correct when you say its not what we wanted to hear.
Firstly how on earth can
a B road through a rural hamlet be suitable for the number of HGV's
thundering past peoples property
& in some cases actually
causing damage to them. Secondly, the issue of the pavements. If your
engineers/surveyors would like
to borrow my tape measure and
my glasses l will gladly take them to several places where the pavements do not
measure up to
your 1.2 mtrs, and indeed to places
where there is no pavement at all (two such places being bus stops) But what
the heck. May
be some little old lady waiting for
the bus to go collect her pension, or a couple of kids waiting for the school
bus one dark foggy
morning might just provide you with
your statistics and make Nether Haugh a "Site For Concern". Do
you have children Nigel ?
As for "The widening of
footpaths decreasing the width of the carriageway" it didn't exactly take
a think tank to work that one
out now did it?
But surely a narrower road would force people to slow down.
l am only aware of one location
where the speed surveys were carried out, (the officers being at the
southern end of the village
on the sharpe right hand bend as the
road leaves towards Greasborough) so in all fairness this is the only one l can
comment on,
but vehicals must slow down to
safely negotiate this bend. Surely this suggests this was the wrong place to
carry out the survey.
They clearly weren't situated where
they could see the vehicle activated speed sign (whichis regularly set off at
45plus & even
in the 50s) As i'm sure you are
aware the speed limit down the hill is 40mph... Sgt. Clare Learad
has very kindly offered to
come along later this week &
have a look at this for herself.
So basically what do we have at the
end of
the day.......
a "B" road, through a little rural hamlet
where HGV's (many
unsheeted & spilling their load)
thundering past 18th centuary cottages at 1.2 mtrs or less, exceeding the speed
limit (partly due
to the fact that the speed
enforcment opperations were in the wrong place) where luckily no one has, as
yet been killed or seriously
injured, and untill some one does
we'll turn a blind eye & hope it all goes away... Well trust me Nigel it
wont. With the backing of
the group & residents we will
pursue this matter all the way, untill a suitable conclusion is reached.
Regards
Steve Chaloner
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Good Morning Nigel
As a resident of Nether Haugh I would like to comment on
your report. Of course
it is not what we wanted to hear. It seems that yourself and
Rotherham Council are
more bothered about finding excuses not to do any thing
rather than finding solutions
to the problems we face at Nether Haugh with
traffic issues.
Having looked at the footpaths through the village it is
clear that the majority of them
are less than 1.2 metres wide and in some places are none
existent. Clearly this this creates
problems for pedestrians, people with disabilities who are
wheel chair bound and mothers with young children
who are in prams. There are also two bus stops which
have no footpaths to them at all.
In respect of your comment about the B road through the
village being acceptable for the mix of traffic
using the road, I have to disagree. There has been over the
past years a substantial increase in the
number and size of HGV's who ignore the 30mph
speed limit and are causing damage to properties,
certainly those in the village which were built in the 18th
century.
When the speed surveys were carried out they we located in
the wrong place, at the south end of
the village on the sharp bend which leads to Greasbrough.
This obviously slows the traffic down which
would of course make the speed surveys irrelevant. The bend
is also dangerous as two lorries cannot
pass the bend safely as it is too narrow.
Clearly your report has major flaws in it and I am sure
you will have received correspondence from other
concerned residents. As you are know doubt aware there have
been numerous accidents in the village
over the past year and I suppose it would take a fatality
for you to come up with some solutions.
Certainly as a resident I will be backing the action
group all the way in their fight to resolve these issues.
Regards
Ernest
Bradley
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Good Afternoon Nigel
I refer to your recent report and findings presented by the
Manager of the Transportation and Highway Design Team, Streetpride, Environment
and Development Services in respect of a request by the Nether Haugh Action
Group for road safety improvements.
·
The volume of traffic using the B6089 has
increased considerably over the past 20 years with a greater increase in heavy
goods vehicles, I was informed by Rotherham Borough Council that the
amount of traffic increases by about 5% each year can you imagine what it will
be like in another 10 years time. When I first came to Nether Haugh the
road was fairly quiet with very little traffic then Parkgate Retail World was
built, traffic increased, then Meadowhall came along again a
substantial increase in traffic, Dearne Valley has been developed with
companies setting up, the college, various housing developments have sprung up
and are still ongoing i.e. Manor Farm. Can you begin to imagine what
effect this has had on the increase in the volume of traffic passing through
the Hamlet, people commuting back and forth to work, heavy goods
vehicles, Rotherham Borough Council have done nothing with regard to
infrastructure while all these changes have been taking place knowingly
what impact it would have on Nether Haugh, the houses are 18th
century very close to the road and when built would have probably only had a
horse and cart passing the front door. You and I both know that Rawmarsh
is heavily congested and that we are the alternative route, well if that is the
case and a bypass is out of the question then please help us to make it a safe
place for the residents to live and a safer journey for the people passing
through. Please take a look at the attached photograph when the lamppost
was knocked down outside my house anyone on the pavement would not have stood a
chance of surviving it all happens so fast and is due to speed, this kind of
thing happens on a daily basis.
·
With reference to the speed checks these were
not carried out at the right locations and should be reassessed.
·
The pavements measurements are incorrect i.e not
as wide as you suggest and in places none existent, again they need to
reassessed.
·
The report says the road is suitable to
accommodate the type of mix of traffic expected on a B road, we can prove that
in places two high sided heavy goods vehicles cannot pass.
·
You make reference that we are not a site for
concern with regard to injury data, again your data is incorrect and for some
reason you are not informed of the accidents that happen, but I do remember
someone making reference to fatalities, does there have to be fatalities before
you take steps to make this road safer.
I would request an onsite meeting with The Manager
of the Transportation and Highways Design Team, Streetpride, Environment and
Development Services who have undertaken these investigation works
together with the Nether Haugh Action Group for them to prove their
findings which we do not accept and the action group have my full backing
is pursuing this matter further.
I await your reply.
Regards
Kath Needham
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Dear Nigel,
We only
moved to the area twelve months ago and so far have witnessed, heard
about and been involved in dozens of accidents and near misses in the village
the latest being a car actually mounting the pavement and hitting our house,
and for such a short stretch of road I personally find it unbelievable that
nothing has been done and nothing so far is planned to be done to reduce this
number.
When we
first moved to Nether Haugh I wrote to RMBC to ask for permission to place a
safety mirror on a lamp post opposite our driveway. Unfortunately this
request was refused due to risk of glare towards oncoming traffic, the request
really should have been approved due to the risk of accident when me and my
family leave our driveway every day.
As you are
aware the village of Wentworth and neighbouring areas attracts 1000’s of
visitors to the area every year and this will only increase as time goes on so
traffic through Nether Haugh is only going to get worse and the risk of accident,
injury and fatality will increase alongside it.
It is only
a matter of time before someone gets killed and the people of Nether Haugh are
trying to do whatever they can to prevent this from happening, but we need help
and that’s the reason why we have been in touch with yourself.
We are not
asking the earth, but for someone to think about the issue and use there common
sense to realize that something needs to be done before a life or lives are
lost.
One
suggestion would be the use of average speed cameras similar to the ones that
Sheffield council are starting to use on their problematic/dangerous roads and
I’m certain that these would be self-funding and possibly a good source of
income for the council.
Your help
in this matter would be gratefully appreciated by everyone.
Regards,
David,
Alison, Elizabeth and James
The mission
House
(That’s the
one on the bad bend where people lose control of their cars and crash because
they are going way too fast)
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Dear Mr Davey
I am writing to you with reference to the volume of ACCIDENTS
on the B6089 that runs through Nether Haugh Village.
We know this is a major concern to the police the ambulance service and
the highways. Why not YOU Mr Davey?
The volume of accidents on this road are beyond counting, there are
far too many happening for you to ignore.!!!!
We think it's about time you did something about it.
We need help Mr Davey to try and reduce the volume of accidents and you could
help us do that surely!!
I won't go into the why's and wherefor's of why you should help us, all that we
ask
is that you just take a look at the photo's on the Nether Haugh Action
Group web page,
read all the reports, read our concerns, this will show you why you should
help us!!!!!
And then pull your finger out Mr Davey. Come on Mr Davey DO SOMETHING!!!
Marilyn Henchley (no 46 Nether Haugh)
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This message came as a text to my phone from yet another
concerned resident of Nether Haugh.......
Name & address supplied........
Sorry, we dont have a computer, but please pass this mssg on to Nigel
Davey........
Sick to death of putting our lives at risk, trying to pull out of our drive on
to the main
road, and the idiots who think it is a race track.
They look at you as if it is your fault, when they have to brake, because they
dont see
you till the last minute as they are going too fast.
Mick & Bev
No 26 Nether Haugh
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Meeting with South Yorks Police at Nether Haugh.
The Nether Haugh Community Partnership Committee (Steve.Ernest and myself stan) Held a meeting with south yorkshire safer neighbourhood team today 30th March 2013. To discuss ways forward and the problems that we have in Nether Haugh. The meeting was very constructive and very helpfull with the police officers giving there full support for future operations within Nether Haugh. we came away from the meeting with some usefull ideas/suggestions which we will be pursuing with the council. In the coming weeks there will be more high visibility speed curtailment operations.
