County councillors have “sympathised” with a petition to make a busy Letchworth junction safer and instructed officers to look at new measures to be funded in future.
A petition was presented to Herts County Council’s environment, transport & growth committee on Thursday, June 11, calling for safety measures on the roundabout at Birds Hill, Norton Way North and Norton Way South in Letchworth.
Proposed measures include reducing the speed limit towards the roundabout on each of the roads, as well as new pedestrian crossings on Birds Hill and Norton Way South.
A petitioner told members she represented over 250 concerned residents, adding: “Why is this becoming critical? Because the traffic keeps growing. The surge in vehicles at this roundabout should not surprise the council. Since 2008, over 400 new homes have been built nearby.
“Every one of those homes generates traffic converging on this single roundabout. That’s hundreds of additional families walking, dozens of industrial vehicles and local commerce are funnelling through one junction with zero safety infrastructure added.
“The roundabout is dangerous for people on foot. I witness near-misses daily, cars speeding at full velocity, with many showing no intention to slow down.
“These incidents do not appear in the police statistics because nobody has died yet. I’m a special constable, so I cruise about this roundabout quite often.”
Chris Lynch, head of transport policy and strategy at Hertfordshire County Council, told members that while there is no funding to implement the measures at present, the council is expecting to receive Section 106 money from the upcoming 900-home LG1 housing development in Letchworth.
He said: “This petition is on Birds Hill, it’s one of the busiest junctions in Letchworth. It serves key leisure services and employment destinations including the town centre, the train station, Howard’s Park, the industrial estate to the east and residential areas to the north.”
Mr Lynch stated that average vehicle speeds were within the 30-mile-per-hour limit, while four collisions, which caused injury within 75 metres of the junction, have been reported in the past five years, lower than the eight or more collisions required to be designated as a hazardous site.
He said this data “doesn’t diminish the validity of the petition” and that “while speeds are generally within the limit, the junction carries notable traffic demand”.
He added: “While there’s no funding available, we will still look to develop options for what we could do when funding becomes available.”
The local ward member, Cllr Alistair Willoughby said: “I’m fully supportive of what this petition is calling for. Both as the local councillor that covers part of it and as someone who has used that area, I’ve found it remarkably unsafe to cross sometimes, nearly getting hit myself.
“There’s a hell of a lot of near-misses that won’t be reported.”
Cllr Ruth Brown said: “Speaking as a North Herts councillor as well as a county councillor… I absolutely support the proposal that something needs to be done in this area.
“I do visit Letchworth quite a lot, and I would like some reassurance that it will be top of the priorities when money does come in from LG1, and it would be nice to know some timescales.”
Cllr Caroline Smith-Wright added: “To hear that we haven’t got enough money to sort this out immediately must be very frustrating [to the petitioner].
“It’s clear that this section is well-used and will be used even more in the future as we get more houses. Can we not do something immediately with signs and road markings? The actual roundabout is very, very degraded, and the sign and paint are fading.”
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Mr Lynch responded that there “may be an opportunity to coordinate works” with the 20-miles-an-hour rollout, which is being prioritised in Letchworth.
He added: “[This is] where we can put signs on the roads and make the lines and signs clearer. That’s something that we can look to do.”
After discussion, councillors agreed for officers to undertake further work on the Birds Hill roundabout and come up with propositions funded by Section 106 money, liaising with the local member and executive member.
Have you seen near misses at this junction? Let us know your experience in the comments
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