Let us see the traffic flow analysis
Well, of all the hairbrained schemes cooked up recently, this one takes the biscuit.
I refer, of course, to the suggestion that a section of Shoppenhangers Road, over 1/3 mile long, be closed to through traffic. Who are the ‘rats’ using this run? Presumably we residents in the Larchfield, Ockwells and Lambourne areas and Cox Green village for whom Shoppenhangers Road is our direct route to town.
We’re not avoiding main roads – this is our main road.
The alternative of Harvest Hill (residential at the top and the bottom) would add over a mile to journeys.
Another, slightly shorter, possibility would be through residential streets narrower
than Shoppenhangers Road: Norden Road and Boyne Hill.
The statement from the council suggests there will be short term disruption; I wonder how the inconvenience of longer journey times will magically disappear.
The article seems to attribute to Cllr
Clark the comment that while drivers can take alternative routes, it is more difficult for cyclists.
In fact, Cycle Route 4 leads to the town centre from Cox Green and beyond via the motorway subway and The Gullet into Ludlow Road, a shared route I sometimes use when walking to or from town from my home adjoining Shoppenhangers Road.
Pedestrians and cyclists using Shoppenhangers Road do so from choice.
When my son attended Desborough School, cyclists to school were told to use this route and use the school entrance on Ludlow Road.
Is the traffic flow analysis available to members of the public?
If so, I would love to see it.
I believe the main traffic problem on Shoppenhangers Road occurs late afternoon when parents park on the pavement and yellow line while they wait to pick up children from school, and to a lesser extent in the morning when they drop them off.
While Cllr Clark says the government grant (our money) will be used for the consultation, it would be council money (more of our money) which would be used to implement the scheme and monitor it – and our money paying for the extra mileage and additional pollution.
ANTHONY NICHOLLS Laxton Green
Maidenhead