Rat runners

The residents of Westgate are fed up with the number of ‘Rat Runners’ using our unclassified residential road. A recent survey showed that 73 per cent of vehicles pass right through the road each weekday without any local business. Via Ravenna (A259) was built as the ‘Westgate Relief Road’ and has a 40mph speed limit unlike Westgate which is 20mph. Despite this ‘rat runners’ prefer Westgate.

Information from the NASA satellite system shows that the average air pollution in Westgate is up to thee times the WHO limit. Measurements are given for particulates (tyres, brake pads and diesel exhaust) and nitrous oxide gas (all exhausts).

Residents have formed a group, STAG (Safer Traffic Action group) and have visited Fulham in London where they have introduced an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) scheme. This allows local residents and other vehicles with a bona fide reason for being on the road to pass without hindrance, but ‘Rat Runners’ are sent a fine (Traffic Penalty Notice). There are no reasonable alternative east/west routes in West Chichester apart from Via Ravenna, so displacement will not cause extra traffic on other residential roads. After one year in operation 92.2 per cent of local residents in Fulham were in favour of the scheme.

Following our application for a Community Highway Scheme for an ANPR in Westgate, the WSCC Highways Department responded that ANPR enforcement had not been enacted in West Sussex although it might be considered at a later date. This is where it is today – lodged in the bureaucracy of County Hall! What can we do about our problem?

Dr Richard Staughton

Westgate, Chichester