Oakington and Westwick Parish Council
Notes about the Airfield Road.These were read and discussed at the December meeting, (2008).
1. The present situation would not have come about if the local Magistrates had applied the law, instead of sitting back and doing nothing, because they did not support this road closure. Consequently, the Police did not waste time and effort in bringing cases before them, knowing that in all probability they would be thrown out by the courts. e.g. they dismissed a case involving use by somebody to transport a handicapped person, whereas in actual fact only drivers of specially adapted invalid carriages are legally allowed to use this road, and quite rightly, Blue Badge holders have no privileges whatsoever.
2. The stretch between the inhabited parts of Oakington and Longstanton is subject to a Road Traffic Order. This is a legal document that sets out not only who can use it, but the position and details of all signage.
3. Any change to the Road Traffic Order, no matter how small, has to be put out to formal public consultation at a minimum cost of £250.
4. Mopeds are banned from using this road, and yet there is no doubt that it is far better for all concerned that they are kept off the A14.
5. An exploratory site meeting has been held between the Chairmen of Oakington & Westwick and Longstanton Parish Councils and responsible officers from CCC Highways Dept.
6. A significant outcome from the site meeting is that each Parish Council would distribute a questionnaire around their own village to gauge the strength of opinion regarding the closure of this road before committing to the necessary formal consultation procedure, in the knowledge that all of the funding for the installation plus the ongoing substantial lifetime maintenance and repair costs will have to be met by one or both of the Parish Councils.
7. Before feedback from the site meeting could be presented to our own Parish Council the editor of our local village Community Newsletter, in all probability prompted by a member of the local community, and certainly without consultation with the Parish Council, took the decision to publish an article that appealed for people to show support, or otherwise for the closure of Longstanton Road. The results of any feedback from this exercise will be heavily biased, because none of the key information was included. Regrettably, this pre-empts and severely prejudices any meaningful survey that the Parish Council could carry out at this point in time.
8. We know that there is strong support for the opening up of this road to all classes of traffic from those living in Longstanton, Over, Swavesey, Willingham and others farther afield, and therefore for decades past CCC officers and successive Parish Councils have decided that it is best not to do anything that would challenge the Road Traffic Order, because the outcome of the public consultation is predictable, and would result in this road being opened up to all classes of traffic.
9. The CCC/SCDC Joint Area Committee has agreed in principle to the gating of this road, but they do not have a budget to pay for it, and neither of those Councils has money to pay for it.
10. As yet the position and form of any gating system and associated signage, posts and turning areas has not been resolved, and so no meaningful cost estimation can be produced.
11. CCC officers have indicated that a budgetary cost of a basic gate is of the order of £5,000, plus the significant extra cost of fencing/posts and hard standings to facilitate turning around for vehicles that for whatever reason turn up at the closed gate.
12. CCC officers have, quite rightly, ruled that the gating system needs to be sited in a central location, otherwise keys would have to be issued to landowners who need access, and this is likely to lead to abuse, and it being left unlocked and thereby defeating its objective.
13. CCC officers have, again quite rightly, pointed out that any gating system, including rising bollards are very much more likely to be targeted by vandals and vigilantes when they are hidden from public view.
14. CCC officers have also indicated that collisions (accidental or deliberate) with rising bollards usually result in major damage to the gear mechanism that costs many thousand of pounds to fix.
15. Collisions (accidental or deliberate) with a gate usually mean that the gate has to be completely replaced, at a cost of around £5,000 per time.
16. It has been falsely claimed in some quarters that the Parish Council is privileged to be able to contribute towards some form of gating system, and that other parishes would be pleased to be put in that privileged position. In fact Parish Councils have the necessary powers to promote such schemes, but as this is not one of their prime responsibilities they have to fund in from what is known as Section 137, which has a strict upper limit which falls well short of the estimated overall annual cost.
17. Not unsurprisingly, the Chairman of Longstanton Parish Council has indicated that they are unlikely to agree to any funding for any formal consultation or provision of any road closure.
18. With the coming of Northstowe, this road is destined to become a bridleway, and so any gating measure will be short lived.
19. There is no doubt that any gating system on this road will not be welcomed by many, and so it is predictable that it would be subject to widespread vandalism, more so because the location will not be in public view. This would result in the Parish Council having to fund repairs at regular intervals, and importantly that the necessary time lag in getting repairs done would mean that the road would be effectively open for long periods.
20. One has to assume that the ongoing funding for all aspects of items that are provided by means of S137 monies has to come from that same source. A prediction of two major incidents per year (a gross underestimation in our view) would necessitate repairs that will greatly exceed the legal limit on expenditure that we have to keep within.
21. The viability of our Village Shop, and to a lesser extent our Pub, is dependent on the passing trade that users of this road bring to our village. Indeed this might well be a factor that resulted in our village Post Office not being on the list of widespread closures that are presently being proposed.
22. We have been assured that this road will not be used by Northstowe construction traffic.
23. There is no denying that many village residents use this road, and so the support for closure is certainly not forthcoming from a significant number.
24. Conditions on Longstanton Road in the residential parts of our village have been greatly improved in recent times with the installation of traffic lights at the Cross Roads, the new stretch of footway from Croft Land to beyond Lowbury Crescent, the short stretch of new footway from the pond towards Mead View, and we are presently waiting to hear if our bid under the jointly funded scheme for double yellow lines and/or extended footway to link this up with Mead View has been successful this time around.
This leads us to conclude that the Parish Council cannot possibly provide the necessary funding for any gating arrangement for Longstanton Road, even in the unlikely event that Longstanton agreed to pay half of the total cost of implementation. The same applies, but even more so, to the significantly higher, ongoing maintenance and repair costs.
However, we remain committed to help sponsor a scheme as part of the Jointly Funded Scheme, which requires a £1 per head of village population, amounting to a one off payment of some £1,200. Having said that, it is highly likely that the necessary process of reviewing the Road Traffic Order will rule out closure of this road, and that in the unlikely event that this hurdle is crossed, any measures that are introduced will attract widespread vandalism and sabotage that will effectively negate the effectiveness, and so it is very unlikely that CCC or anyone else will be prepared to fund any scheme for this road.
A.J.Milton
Chairman, Oakington & Westwick Parish Council
Nov. 08
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