In the light of feedback from parish residents and after discussion at the official meeting on 10th March, your Parish Councillors agreed to submit the following response to the Somer Valley Links Consultation on behalf of the Parish Council.
Somer Valley Links Consultation
Publow with Pensford Parish Council has discussed the plans presented at the consultation events and has been listening to the views of parish residents.
The Parish Council recognises that the aim of the project is to facilitate activities such as walking and cycling, and we support this. However, we wish to draw your attention to the following serious concerns:
1. PARKING:
Our legally binding Neighbourhood Development Plan 2016-2035 (“NP”), adopted by local referendum highlights ‘the lack of adequate car parking for residents, visitors and businesses in Pensford’. It emphasises that the lack of parking is particularly acute in Church Street.
The NP aimed to explore ways of providing ADDITIONAL parking in Pensford for residents and visitors ((NP page 23). Since that time, the pressure on parking has become far worse, rather than better. As such, we cannot support ANY proposal that would reduce parking space in the village. As your proposals for Pensford Bridge would reduce parking places even further, we cannot support them and we believe they will have a detrimental effect on the lives of local people.
The Parish Council is so concerned about parking in Pensford that it has established a working group to try to provide MORE spaces not fewer in Pensford. If implemented, your proposals would cancel out our efforts in this regard and would be counter-productive.
2. SCHOOL
The loss of scarce parking places on Pensford Bridge would have a severe detrimental effect on Pensford Primary School.
Many families from neighbouring areas choose Pensford School and the viability of the village school depends on it being able to attract children from outside our parish. It is therefore essential that “out-of-area” parents can drop-off and collect their children safely by car using the existing parking bays on Pensford Bridge. In addition, the school bus to Chew Valley School picks-up and drops-off on Pensford Bridge and uses the existing bays to safely park.
Pensford School is on low ground below road level and has no vehicular access. The School uses the current parking bays by the bus stop for emergencies and large deliveries. Delivery vehicles need to be able to park very close to the school, as it uses a ‘hoist’ to lift large deliveries from vehicles down to the school playground.
The needs of Pensford School must take priority and therefore it is essential to retain all the existing parking spaces on the southbound side of the A37.
3. POST OFFICE AND VILLAGE STORE
The proposed loss of scarce parking places on Pensford Bridge and pavement changes on the northbound side of the A37 would have a severe detrimental effect on the village Post Office and Stores.
Our Post Office is an important local business and is vital to Pensford residents and people who live in the surrounding villages. The availability of short-term customer parking is essential but existing parking provision is already considerably below an acceptable standard. In particular, elderly and disabled residents and others need to be able to get to the shop by car due to road safety concerns.
Pensford Post Office is a full delivery Post Office, and therefore must have spaces to park their delivery vans. There are very few post offices in the surrounding area, so it has a large catchment area and many customers need to drive in and park in the village to use it.
Walking along the busy A37 is difficult for some people, and there is an extremely narrow pavement on only one side of Pensford Hill, which makes walking to the shop hazardous.
There are usually very few parking spaces available on the roadside in Church Street and it is frequently impossible, to find an empty parking space near to the Post Office so people habitually double park outside it. This is a constant source of concern, and there is no way to control or police it. Double (illegal) parking already causes congestion at the junction with the A37.
It appears that you are proposing to remove the two parking spaces outside the Miner’s Institute. Many residents are extremely concerned about this proposal. Local opinion is that there should be at least three spaces here, rather than the existing two car parking spaces, especially so because the Miner’s Institute is shortly to become the home of our new enlarged Post Office and Stores. As such, we consider the proposal to withdraw any parking spaces on the northbound side of the A37 to be a seriously retrograde step.
If customers are unable to park near the Post Office, its business will decline and it will risk closing. We do not want that to happen and the Post Master has huge concerns in this regard.
4. TRAFFIC FLOWS:
The heavily used A37 trunk road that runs through Pensford Bridge is a major route used not only by local and commuter traffic it also suffers from a constant stream of large goods vehicles (LGVs) in particular those travelling between the South Coast and the motorway network through to Wales and the North.
We are concerned that removing both of the bus bays would result in buses stopping for long periods in the middle of the A37. This would obstruct the flow of traffic on the A37. There may be sufficient width for a small car to pass a stationary bus, but given the numbers of LGVs on the A37, we would expect stationary LGVs to cause traffic queues on both sides, as they would be unable to pass the stationary buses safely.
Queues of LGVs on Pensford Bridge would increase existing pollution levels caused by exhaust fumes outside Pensford School. Emergency services would also face difficulties because police, fire and ambulance vehicles would become stuck behind LGVs and other vehicles queuing behind a stationary bus.
It is likely, that some vehicles will attempt to overtake a stationary bus. There may also be problems if vehicles meet each other on opposite sides of the narrowed down roadway This would increase the risk of road traffic accidents and head on collisions given the blind steep bend down Pensford Hill into the village.
5. PEDESTRIANS
The Parish Council supports cycling and walking initiatives. However, Pensford Village is at the bottom of steep hills and the likelihood of significant cycle or e-scooter use on the routes through and around our village seems remote. The topography of the area makes cycling quite difficult other than for the young and physically fit.
We are concerned that many of the rural lanes running through and between the villages in our Parish are very narrow and have no pavements. This lack of pavements makes walking unsafe for pedestrians, especially for unaccompanied schoolchildren. The Parish Council has been pressing Bath and North East Somerset Council unsuccessfully for safe walking routes (i.e. pavements) around our village, as schoolchildren are at risk of accident due to the number of vehicles using the rural lanes as rat-runs.
In addition, due to the lack of pavements, and high traffic volumes, we are concerned that encouraging a large number of e-scooters to use these roads would be extremely dangerous and would risk accidents.
6. LOCATION OF HUB
It is the opinion of the Parish Council that placing a hub in Pensford’s already busy and well-used village centre would be putting it in the wrong place.
Some residents have mentioned that the funding for this project would better used to the benefit our Parish if spent on improving the very busy and unsafe junction of the A37 and B3130 at Belluton. Currently, it is extremely difficult for pedestrians (especially children using the school bus) to cross the A37 from the bus stops on either side of the road. The speed limit at the Belluton junction is 40mph (which is too high in a built up area) and there is no island in the middle of the road, where pedestrians can safely pause or wait before crossing the remaining part of the A37. Placing the hub at the Belluton junction would also be attractive to users arriving from Chew Magna and Stanton Drew.
There are frequent accidents at the junction of Birchwood Lane with the A37 (the latest one this week) .This junction is so dangerous that residents have erected mirrors. The A37 at this point is subject to the national speed limit (60mph) which encourages reckless overtaking and fast driving. It is particularly dangerous for cyclists as it is quite narrow, (given the huge volume of traffic, particularly Large Goods Vehicles). Pedestrians using the bus stops or walking into Pensford village centre find it unpleasant and (in places) unsafe due to lack of a continuous pavement on both sides, and crossing the A37 is hazardous. Some residents have mentioned that any available funding would be better used to create a continuous pavement from the Whitley Batts bus stops down to Pensford village and to reduce the speed limit on the A37 to 40mph up to the Chelwood Bridge roundabout.
The Parish Council considers placing bicycle storage racks in the centre of the village would be unsightly and intrusive. There is some concern that users may discard bicycles and e-scooters and obstruct pavements, throw them into the river or discard them on our remote rural roads and hedgerows. We consider the best place to put cycle racks would be in a less visually prominent location near the Pensford Memorial Hall car park. A further advantage of doing this is that it would not be necessary to change the existing layout on Pensford Bridge.
Publow with Pensford Parish Council appreciates that you are trying to improve the bus stops. However, many residents who frequently use the buses have mentioned that Pensford Bridge already has two acceptable bus stops with seating and times and they consider that there are better ways to use public money.
7. CONCLUSION
The conclusion of Publow with Pensford Parish Council is that, while we welcome any proposals to increase cycling or walking, we consider that the specific proposals for Pensford Bridge are inappropriate, unwanted and would have a detrimental impact on Pensford village, its school, post office and its residents.
We trust that you will appreciate our serious concerns and we request that you re-consider and we especially recommend the alternative proposals that we have suggested here.
Sue Grimes Chair, Publow with Pensford Parish Council