Derek Deedman

At the special meeting held yesterday morning at my suggestion, with Parish and District Councillors, the local Highway Manager revealed the results of the traffic survey carried out north and south of Blackstone during a week last month.

It was found that at the checkpoint south of the Village that 266 vehicles per day passed at an average of 33/34 mph, with between 86 and 91% travelling at less than 41 mph. At the northern checkpoint, near Rose Cottage, the daily figure was 247 vehicles at an average speed of 39mph with some 66% travelling at less than 41 mph.

In view of the low traffic speeds, the meeting agreed that the introduction of a 40 mph limit, although justified by the existing speeds, would probably, based on experience elsewhere, lead to an increase in average speed up to near the 40 mph. In addition it was noted that the daily traffic numbers were much lower than on other ‘c’ classed roads.

The provision of road humps was suggested to reduce current speeds, but since this would require street lights and road markings and signs this was ruled out on environmental grounds.

Concern was expressed that the County Council was not doing enough to implement the County Highway Plan with regard to reducing lorry traffic along Blackstone Lane, and the Local Highway Manager agreed to discuss this with the officers at County Hall responsible for the implementation of the Plan.

It was suggested that individual action to report speeding lorries to their owners or to the Police via the Operation Crackdown number/website (see the link on this website) would help tackle the problem of lorry and speeding traffic.

Overall the meeting had to agree that in view of the low number of vehicles using the Lane and the low speed of that traffic, there was little that could be done to address local concerns about the use of the road. Woodmancote Parish Council will be reporting back to local residents in more detail about the meeting.

I have agreed to investigate further the possibility of advisory traffic signs re-directing lorry traffic from Blackstone Lane to other routes. In addition, at my request, the District Councillor present at the meeting agreed to investigate whether Horsham District Council could implement improvements to the centre of Blackstone since it is an official Conservation Area. Such works would enhance the local environment and might also deter through traffic using the Lane.