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Report to:
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Lead Member for
Transport and Environment
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Date of
meeting:
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18 November
2024
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By:
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Director of
Communities, Economy and Transport
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Title:
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Petition: Implement a
40mph speed limit within the parish of Arlington
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Purpose:
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To consider a petition
for a traffic safety survey and implementation of a 40mph speed
limit within the parish of Arlington
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RECOMMENDATIONS:
The Lead Member is recommended to
advise the petitioners that:
1)
an assessment of
the safety record of the roads detailed in the petition has been
undertaken by the Road Safety Team and there are no locations that
meet the Council’s threshold for inclusion in our annual road
safety programme; and
2)
the roads and lanes
within the parishes of Arlington, Berwick and Long Man set out at
paragraph 1.1 below do not meet the Council’s policy for a
40mph speed limit, and measures such as gateway features, Vehicle
Activated Signs (VAS) and improved signage may be appropriate.
These measures could be considered via the Community Match
initiative. The Traffic and Safety team can provide Arlington
Parish Council with advice over what measures could be
considered.
1
Background Information
·
Arlington Road West, Michelham Priory Road, Caneheath, Tye Hill
Road, Tye Hill Lane, Wilbees Road, The Street, Chilver Bridge Road,
Common Lane (Berwick), Bayleys Lane (Wilmington), Robin Post Lane
(Wilmington), Hayreed Lane (Wilmington), Thornwell Road
(Wilmington)
1.2.
Standing Orders provide that where the Chairman considers it
appropriate, petitions are considered by the relevant Committee or
Lead Member and a spokesperson for the petitioners is invited to
address the Committee. The Chairman has referred this petition to
the Lead Member for Transport and Environment. A copy of the
petition is available in the Members’ Room.
2 Supporting Information
2.
2.1.
The roads within the parishes of Arlington, Berwick and Long Man
are subject to the National Speed Limit and are predominantly rural
single-track lanes with limited frontage development. There are
narrow sections and low bridges. A location plan can be found at
Appendix 1.
2.2.
Each year the Council identifies sites that have the most crashes
that result in personal injury as part of the annual Road Safety
Programme. The causes of the crashes are studied to assess how we
can reduce the number of casualties on the roads in East Sussex. We
use our crash data analysis system to identify where crashes are
happening. Our system holds all personal injury crashes recorded by
Sussex Police. A crash site is identified as a location where there
have been four or more crashes in a three-year period, within a
25-metre radius in urban areas and a 50-metre radius in rural
locations. Based on the crash analysis each year 24 sites are
prioritised and then fully investigated and assessed by experienced
members of the Road Safety team, with measures introduced to
address the crash record.
2.3.
An assessment of the safety record of the roads detailed in the
petition has been undertaken by the Road Safety team and there are
no locations that meet the Council’s threshold for inclusion
in our annual road safety programme. The crash data provided by
Sussex Police, for the roads identified by the petitioners,
indicates that there have been 2 serious and 6 slight personal
injury crashes for the latest three-year period up to 31 August
2024. A plan showing the location of these crashes can be found at
Appendix 2 The crashes do not form cluster sites as detailed above.
It has been noted that one crash has excessive speed as a
contributory factor.
2.4.
The setting of appropriate and effective speed limits has been
subject to a significant level of research. It is important drivers
are provided with a consistent message, so they know what is
expected of them as they enter different road environments. A
predominant factor considered when determining an effective speed
limit is the number of properties that are visible to drivers.
Although it is acknowledged that there are some visible property
frontages in these parishes, including two pubs and the village
hall within Arlington, the lanes are predominantly rural in nature
with continuous development over a relatively short length of
road.
2.5.
Due to limited frontage development and local characteristics,
these roads and lanes do not meet the Council’s policy
requirements for a lower speed limit; therefore, the national speed
limit applies. Whilst they are subject to the national speed limit,
the onus is on the individual driver to drive in a safe and
judicious manner, and to the conditions of the road and the
surroundings through which they pass. It is recognised nationally
that most drivers will travel at the speed they consider to be safe
for the conditions of the road. The majority of responsible drivers
using the roads and lanes around Arlington will already be choosing
to travel at a speed below the national speed limit due to the
nature of the rural lanes.
2.6.
Speed surveys have been carried out on Caneheath and The Street.
There is a permanent telemetry device located on Arlington Road West. The location of the three
surveys and data results are included in Appendix 3. The surveys in
Caneheath and The Street indicated that the average speed of
drivers is below 35mph with 85th percentile speeds (the
speed that 85 percent of the drivers are travelling below) of
around 40mph. Data from the permanent telemetry device in Arlington
Road West indicated that the average speed of drivers is 41mph with
85th percentile speeds of 49mph. Road Safety
officers’ expectation is that the other roads detailed in
paragraph 1.1 will have broadly similar average speeds.
2.7.
A 40mph speed limit would be higher than the recorded mean
speeds for Caneheath and The Street and is unlikely to achieve
speed reductions or improve safety. Data for Arlington Road West
indicates that drivers are already driving at around 40mph without
the need for a reduced speed limit therefore a 40mph limit would be
unlikely to have the desired speed reducing impact.
2.8.
Where the national speed limit applies, it is not necessary to
provide repeater signs indicating the limit unless there is street
lighting present. If a lower speed limit was introduced on
Arlington Road West, The Street and Caneheath, it would be
necessary to provide speed limit repeater signs at regular
intervals along the roads. There is a risk that some drivers would
see the signed 40mph speed limit as a target or assume that it is
safe and appropriate to drive to the limit throughout the area.
This could result in increased speeds on The Street and Caneheath
whereas at present, the majority of drivers are choosing to drive
at or below 40mph on these roads.
2.9.
The roads identified by the petitioners do not meet the criteria
set out in the Council’s Policy for a lower speed limit in
terms of the road character or environment, therefore the national
speed limit is the correct restriction for these roads. A copy of
policy No. PS05/02 Local Speed Limits can be found at Appendix
4.
2.10 Road
Safety features such as vehicle activated signs (VAS), gateway
features and improved signage may be appropriate for the area. It
is recognised that whilst a road safety scheme in Arlington is not
currently a priority for East Sussex County Council, it is
still important to the local community and certain measures could
be considered under the Community Match initiative. This initiative
can provide part funding for local schemes and is managed by East
Sussex Highways. Further information regarding this can be found at
What is Community Match | Community Match |
live.eastsussexhighways.com
The Community Match initiative can
be used to consider schemes that would cost less than
£120,000 to design and construct, which would include
VASgateway features and additional signage.
2.11 In
order to determine which measures could be suitable in this area,
prior to a Community Match application, it is suggested that
Arlington Parish Council contacts the neighbouring Parish Councils,
to ascertain whether they would be interested in supporting a
scheme to influence traffic conditions in the area. Support from
the Parish Council does not need to be financial – any group
interested in taking a scheme forward through Community Match can
provide the funding. The Traffic and Safety Manager is happy to
meet with the Lead Petitioner and the Parish Council to discuss
possible scheme options.
2.12 The speed
data from Caneheath, The Street and Arlington Road West that was
recently collected can be provided to the group, upon request,
however, should further speed data be required, more data can be
collected by contacting our Transport Monitoring Team at
transport.monitoring@eastsussex.gov.uk.
There is a charge for providing this service, the cost to undertake
one 7 day speed/volume survey is £422+VAT, however discounts
are available when multiple surveys are requested. Further speed
data collection will not be funded by East Sussex County
Council.
3 Conclusion and Reasons for
Recommendations
3.
3.1.
Speed surveys have shown that average speeds on Caneheath, The
Street and Arlington Road West are already very close to or below
40mph, and it is expected that the other roads detailed in
paragraph 1.1 will have broadly similar average speeds.
3.2.
It is recommended that the Lead Member advises the petitioners that
a lower speed limit on the roads and lanes detailed in paragraph
1.1 does not meet the Council’s policy for a 40mph speed
limit for the reasons set out in paragraphs 2.4and 2.5 . It is also
recommended that the petitioners are advised that an assessment of
the safety record of the roads specified in the petition has been
carried out and there are no locations that meet the
Council’s threshold for inclusion in our annual road safety
programme.
3.3
It is recommended that the Lead
Member for Transport and Environment advises petitioners that
whilst a lower speed limit does not meet the Council’s policy
for a 40mph limit, other road safety improvements could be
considered should an alternative source of funding become
available, or if an application through Community Match was
successful.
3.4
It is recommended that the Lead Member for Transport and
Environment advises the lead petitioner that the Traffic and Safety
Manager is happy to meet to discuss possible options for
consideration through Community Match. The speed data for
Caneheath, The Street and Arlington Road West that was recently
collected can be provided to the group, upon request and further
speed data collections can be arranged, should external funding be
available.
RUPERT
CLUBB
Director of Communities, Economy
and Transport
Contact Officer: Clare
Akehurst
Tel. No. 01323 463402
Email: clare.akehurst@eastsussex.gov.uk
LOCAL
MEMBERS
Councillor Nick
Bennett
Councillor Stephen
Shing
BACKGROUND
DOCUMENTS
None