Call for traffic calm at congested Burghclere chicanes
Accident waiting to happen in Harts Lane
A BURGHCLERE resident says it’s only a matter of time before there is a serious accident at the village’s traffic-calming measure in Harts Lane.
Wing Commander Tony Garland, a former parish councillor, who lives in Harts Lane, was at a recent parish council meeting at the Portal Hall, where he told parish councillors he had written to borough councillor, John Izett (Con, Highclere, Burghclere and St Mary Bourne) on traffic issues in the lane, where the speed limit was 30mph.
Issues included convoys of buses en route to The Clere secondary school, in Earlstone Common in the village.
Mr Garland claimed he had seen a woman nearly killed trying to cross the lane with a pram.
And he said that another woman, carrying a baby in a papoose, was nearly hit by a bus when a a car was coming the other way.
He said the problem of vehicles competing to get through chicanes in the lane was getting worse and causing problems for residents and he urged the parish council to tackle it.
Parish councillors sympathised and said they were experiencing problems exiting their homes in vehicles, owing to traffic issues in Ox Drove and Pound Lane.
The chairman of the parish council, Cliff James, said two building sites in the area of Harts Lane near the chicanes were exacerbating traffic problems, because of vehicles parked by contractors, and councillor Miggie Bruce said she counted 17 vehicles parked in the roadway on one day recently.
Mr James added: “School buses hurtle through (the chicanes) in convoys and at speed, so no one else can get through.”
Councillors also voiced worries that plans to build 2,000 houses at Sandleford in Newbury – just three and a half miles, or seven minutes drive, from Burghclere – would result in yet more traffic through the village.
The parish council agreed to write to The Clere School on the issue of the convoys of school buses in Harts Lane and also to contact the borough council about the traffic issues caused by contractors’ vehicles parked in the lane.
After the meeting, borough councillor, Mr Izett, said contractors building six houses at a site called Stembridge Close were unable to park on the site, but added that work was scheduled for completion by the end of May.
He also said he intended to take up the issue of the school buses with The Clere School.
Headteacher of The Clere Felicity Martin said: “We take the safety of our students and the impact on the local community very seriously.
“We will be talking to the bus companies and investigating the allegation immediately.”