Stourport’s Traffic : Towards “Gridlock”
Posted by labourblogger on March 29, 2009
Cedric Smith and Jenny Knowles are both Labour Candidates for Worcestershire County Council Elections for Stourport.
In 2002/3, detailed proposals were made to ease Stourport’s traffic problems. Based on price, eight scenarios were presented. They ranged from a £48m project, Stourport Relief Road, to a modest set of measures costing around £200,000. These included,
• Reduce Gilgal and Mitton Street to one lane
• Traffic calming in High Street
• Reduce Vale Road to two lanes
• Signalise Vale Road/Lion Hill/Mitton Street
• Worcester Road roundabout replaced by lights
• Partial Relief Road
• Signalise Vale Road/Minster Road/Gilgal junctions
There were also more local proposals, eg, traffic calming in Windemere Way and a traffic-reduction scheme in Moorhall Lane.
Readers will have their own views about the usefulness of these proposals, as we do. Unfortunately, nothing has been done in the intervening years. Nor is there a commitment from the Tories at County Hall to do anything in the future. The Tories are willing to risk “gridlock”, the word their own traffic consultants used to describe the future for Stourport, if nothing was done.
Further information
The priority given to Stourport Relief Road was downgraded by the Tories at County Hall in 2003.
In 2005, County Highways officers said Stourport’s traffic problems were scheduled to be addressed in 2008. They said they wished to consult local people and a list of volunteers was drawn up under the auspices Stourport Forward.
Stourport Forward was a funding agency concerned with economic regeneration. It recognised that Stourport’s economic prospects were seriously hampered by its traffic problems.
In fact, local opinion was never sought. The county council did make one bid for capital monies, of around £3m, under a “Market Towns” initiative, which failed. It then did nothing more.
In September 2008, the Tory Portfolio Holder for Highways, Cllr Derek Prodger, said he could not give a date at which Stourport’s traffic problems would be addressed. Labour concludes that Stourport is not a priority for Worcestershire Tories.
This article appears in the March/April editions of the Stourport and Areley Kings Rose.
