LOCAL POLICE have provided “tremendous” support for our plans to slow down the traffic speeding through Singleton.
At our last meeting, on Thursday, 22nd March 2012, a police inspector told councillors he had sat outside outside the Miller Arms for three hours to see what the traffic was like there – and it “made my hair stand on end.”
Frequent speed traps had had little overall effect, he said, although a large number of motorists had been cautioned or fined for speeding, using mobile phones while driving, or not using seatbelts. Singleton Village was still seen as a swift bypass of the A585, and only tougher measures would cure that.
He had spoken to police traffic engineers, and arranged to meet county road engineers with a view to backing our call for traffic calming. But speed bumps were counter-productive, he said, as they create a lot of noise for the residents living near them. Far more effective were chicanes, like those at Woodplumpton, which had proved very successful.
Council chairman Cllr Bob Gallagher asked if the chicanes would include bollards as farm contractors’ vehicles currently rode over anything in their way, apparently not noticing any pavements they mounted. The inspector replied that each chicane had three tough bollards.
Police would continue their efforts, he added. Recently there had been longer spells of speed traps in the village, police cars now regularly drove through Singleton on their rounds, and our local PCSO visited Singleton daily for traffic issues, including preventing thoughtless parents parking on the zig-zag lines outside the school.
He noted that some ‘Golden River’ cables had been placed in the parish to record traffic speeds and vehicle types and he would be studying the results with interest as it could help our case.
Councillors agreed the police support was “tremendous” and “much appreciated.” But police support wasn’t everything, said the inspector. Residents would also have to back the need for traffic calming – and the best way to do that was to send individual letters to the county council rather than a single petition. We agreed to encourage our residents to do that, and will be approaching residents for their help – canvassing especially for residents’ feelings, fears, and stories of near-misses. The inspector also suggested shared funding would help our lobbying, so the council is to investigate the possibility.
Regular crime
ASIDE from the theft of lead from the church, there had been relatively little crime in the past month, the inspector reported. There was a domestic incident in Lodge Lane, a racist taunt at the service station, and a car had been mysteriously torched in Grange Lane.
Play area
COUNCILLORS were concerned at the damage caused by the contractors installing the new play equipment and will be writing to the firm concerned, showing photos of the tracks left and the inadequately-levelled ground around the new equipment.
New village hall committee
COUNCILLORS are delighted that a new village hall committee has been formed to complete the village’s application for lottery funding for the refurbishment of the hall. The application has been approved at the second of the three stages it has to complete. We’ll have more about this in our blog later, and the committee is setting up its own blog. Watch this space for more details.
Other issues
- – Thanks to the letters distributed by police, dustbin lorries have been able to reverse into Miller Crescent. But there was still one delivery van causing problems by bad parking and its driver will be fined if this continues.
- – Police will be leading Singleton Gala this year.
- – Several residents have wondered what the strange blue-tipped sticks appearing around the parish were. We’ve discovered they’re part of a geophysical survey being conducted for Cuadrilla.
Next meetings
Our next meeting is on Thursday, 26th April 2012, in the church vestry as usual, and starting at 7.30pm as usual. All are welcome. Our AGM will be on Thursday, 24th May 2012, starting at 7pm and preceding the May council meeting, which starts at 7.30pm. All are welcome to attend those, too.