Traffic control plans 'limited'

We welcome any measures that will reduce inconsiderate parking, congestion and speeding on Timberdine Avenue but [Worcestershire] County Council’s recently published proposals are too limited to be an effective solution for the Battenhall end of our road.

The entire stretch of road between Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College and Battenhall Road becomes a single-lane bottleneck every school day from 8am to 4pm.

It causes acute congestion and related problems during the morning and afternoon school runs and chronic congestion intermittently throughout the rest of the day.

It is caused by the overspill of all-day long-stay parking by school staff who cannot park in the school grounds. They have to park somewhere but on-street parking needs to be managed to prevent such bottlenecks there or anywhere else.

A single yellow-line prohibition, permitting only loading and unloading between 8am and 4pm Mondays to Fridays on one side or other of the road between the Battenhall Road junction and the school gate would solve the problem.

Ideally the college should be looking to remodel its frontage strip between the pavement and its tennis courts. It could provide more staff parking and improve access for delivery vehicles and other occasional school transports.

Unless, or until, that happens the price of removing the bottleneck will be that the all-day parking by its staff gets spread over a wider area. It is not ideal but we think it would be a lot better than the status quo.

We have not yet seen any proposals to calm traffic speed along the avenue. Sadly, too many drivers see our straight and mostly flat road as an invitation to drive faster than they should and frequently above the speed limit.

Physical traffic calming measures are needed, whether or not Timberdine Avenue ever becomes a 24/7 20mph zone, because signage and road markings alone will not cut it.

The comprehensive set of measures on Bilford Road in the vicinity of Tudor Grange Academy seems to be very effective and we think it is a model that could be adapted to suit Timberdine Avenue from end to end.

We know that speed cushions, raised platforms and “pinch points” are not everyone’s cup of tea but if we are serious about moderating traffic speed along the avenue then perhaps we need to “get the hump”.

Timberdine Avenue seems to be the only secondary school access road in Worcester that does not already have a comprehensive scheme of parking control and traffic calming in place. Now is the time to put one in place.

Marilyn and John Wrightson, Helen and Richard Wicks, Steve and Louise Large and Nigel Douch