BOROUGH OF POOLE

ALDERNEY, BRANKSOME EAST & WEST AREA COMMITTEE

20 MAY 2009

REPORT OF HEAD OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES

Traffic Panel

1.For Information

1.1Requests for minor traffic measures, particularly if they involve Traffic Orders or have other implications on traffic flow, are generally considered by the Traffic Panel. The Traffic Panel consists of Council officers and representatives of the Police, emergency services, and the Bus Company. The panel seeks advice from Councillors, the refuse collection service and emergency services prior to their meeting and then makes recommendations on the requests. This process allows requests to be considered on a consistent basis across the borough and satisfies the requirement that the Police and emergency services are consulted at an early stage in the preparation of any orders.

1.2The Traffic Panel’s consideration of the issues and their recommendation is recorded in the minutes, which are circulated to all council members after the meeting. If no objections are raised to any of the items then the Panel’s recommendations are approved under delegated powers and this is reported to the next meeting of the relevant committee.

1.3The Traffic Panel met on 25 March and discussed the following items relating to this Area Committee.

(i)Winston Avenue Roundabout – Suggested removal of yellow lines to allow parking on the approach to the school

(ii)Stalham Road - Request for yellow box marking in Alder Road and yellow lines along one side of Stalham Road

The relevant Panel minutes are attached and the Panel’s recommendations are now approved under delegated powers. The Winston Avenue proposals are included in the Area Committee’s programme for this year and will be considered further in due course. The yellow lines in Stalham Road will be a candidate for funding next year.

JULIAN McLAUGHLIN

Head of Transportation Services

Officer Contact : Steve Dean(01202) 262071
Location: / Winston Avenue Roundabout
Ward: / Branksome East
Approval & Funding: / Alderney, Branksome East and Branksome West Area Committee
Request by: / Safer Neighbourhood Team
Nature of Request: / Removal of yellow lines to allow parking on the approach to the school
Background: / Yellow lines were introduced here as part of the 20mph zone outside the school
Members Comments: / Cllr Mrs Rampton is keen to see measures to ease the parking pressures outside the school
Emergency Services Refuse Collection Comment: / No specific comments but they would generally support measures that protect their access.
Traffic Panel Comments: / The Police raised concerns about the principle of allowing parking on a roundabout. They pointed out that this would introduce vehicle manoeuvres in an inappropriate area, and there would be no way of controlling the size of vehicle that used the spaces or the direction in which they park.
The Bus Company suggested that vehicles parked here could cause problems for some of their larger vehicles.
The Panel felt that it would not be appropriate to allow parking on the roundabout itself. There might be some scope for parking in the access road into the school, but this would need to be discussed with the school.
Recommendation: / Do not allow parking on the roundabout, discuss parking on the school access road with the school.
Estimated Cost: / £1,000
Priority: / Amenity
Likely Objectors: / N/A
Location: / Stalham Road
Ward: / Branksome West
Approval & Funding: / Alderney, Branksome East and Branksome West Area Committee
Request by: / Local Resident
Nature of Request: / i)Yellow Box marking at the Alder Road junction
ii)Yellow lines along one side
Background: / None
Members Comments: / None
Emergency Services Refuse Collection Comment: / No specific comments but they would generally support measures that protect their access.
Traffic Panel Comments: / (i) The Panel felt that yellow box markings should only be used to deal with unusual circumstances as they were likely to be disregarded if over-used. Yellow box markings can sometimes help side road traffic to drive through the gap that they create in the queue in the main road, but they do not help side road traffic break into the queue.
In this case, there is no movement across the junction (as it is a T junction) and so a yellow box marking would not be very helpful. Traffic from Stalham Road does sometimes need to wait in the junction because there is a queue on the main road itself. If a yellow box was marked, this traffic would not be able to enter the junction and it would actually be more difficult to get out of Stalham Road.
The signals at the top and bottom of the hill have been linked to minimise the number of times that large vehicles have to stop on the hill. It is possible that a yellow box marking would disrupt the linkage and the Panel felt that a yellow box marking would not be appropriate at this junction.
(ii) Stalham Road does not have a suitable turning head and the refuse vehicle has to manoeuvre in Alder Road to reverse in. Stalham Road varies between 6.7m and 6.3m which is not wide enough to allow parking on both sides. The curves in the road make it particularly difficult for the refuse vehicle to get through, and an emergency vehicle would have similar problems. The Panel felt that no Waiting at any Time restrictions should be imposed along the southern side of the road (the inside of the curve)
Recommendation: / Impose No Waiting At Any Time restrictions at the junction as shown on Drg TP09/21
Estimated Cost: / £1,000.
Priority: / Safety
Likely Objectors: / There will be objections to the yellow lines