Central Bedfordshire Council wrote in 2022 to residents at Churchfield Road suggesting that the road be made one-way only.
Parking and negotiating the road had been made more difficult through the years since the road was built due to the growth of car ownership.
The Council had been asked to consider making the road one-way, and wrote to residents in an "informal manner to gauge feeling before progressing further".
The proposals were described as:
Churchfield Road — entry at its southern junction with Tithe Farm Road, travelling southwest past All Saints Road, north-west past Dellmont Road, Hillside and Thorn View Road, north-west past Dell Road and finally exiting at its northernmost junction with Tithe Farm Road (opposite No. 72) – vehicles permitted to travel in that direction only.
Vehicles will be permitted to enter at the junction with Tithe Farm Road (opposite No. 64) but only for a distance of approximately 17 metres at which point they will be diverted north around the large- circular island between Churchfield Road and Tithe Farm Road.
Dellmont Road – this will remain two-way.
'No Waiting at Any Time' Restrictions - a whole series of parking restrictions were proposed.
Have Your Say
The Council invited responses by 7 April 2022.
Any proposal, if implemented, would impact trade and other vehicles that use the road, as well as residents that live there.
BACKGROUND
A resident said, “[The Council] signed this off on 17 March according to the notice, but the letters didn't get to residents until yesterday [24 March] - with the deadline for comments on 07 April, and even then not everyone affected has got a letter. I haven't, and the turning circle is opposite me! Now everyone will park outside my house instead, cos I don't have lines, or a drop kerb.”
In 2019, Steve Searle commented on Facebook, “Car owners were a minority when the estates were designed and built, but society has changed within an environment with fixed boundaries.
You can't just tell people to "Have less cars" because all the dynamics work against that notion, mainly because employment and shopping are no longer within walking distance like they used to be.
Until then we have to make the best of it, how about installing "grasscrete" type paving until a better solution is found.”
In 2016, Peter Baker commented on Facebook, “I live on Churchfield Road and live at the top of the grass bank. Parking gets worse every year. Road needs to be wider with more parking available to people [who] live there and it needs to be turned into a 1-way street and a 20mph zone. The emergency services have trouble getting up Churchfield and bin trucks struggle every week. Something needs to be done ASAP.”
Also, in 2016, Gill Zubricki wrote, “I agree about the parking in Churchfield Road. We have no chance of parking when we get home from work. The grass is ruined by the cars that have to park on the banks so why don't the Council just cut into the bottom of the bank to give parking both sides of the street.”
Maxine Mangan in 2016 wrote, “It's not surprising that parking is a nightmare. Nowadays each house has 2 maybe 3 cars and many people also bring work vehicles home. A few years ago the council wanted to make Churchfield Road one way but residents objected.”
In 2012 town councillor R. Shimmin was on-site during thin surfacing works on Churchfield Road and questioned contractors regarding material going down on the road surface. The contractor advised that in winter 'you wouldn't want to drive down the hill, it will be like an ice rink'. Cllr Shimmin then requested that some anti-skid also be put down to prevent accidents and advised a colleague that he felt the wrong material was being used for the road surface if the contractors believed the surface would be unsafe in winter. 16/10/12 . A comment was subsequently added to Highway Reports 17/10/2012 "The antiskid will be unnecessary on this type of surface. It will take two weeks minimum to embed properly. After this period we are happy to take a look. Thank you".
Query on Publication of this Consultation
This is an "informal consultation" - at the time of writing there is nothing on CBC website, but if there ever is it would be published, linked to their consultation page.
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