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TRAFFIC & SAFETY
Walking, riding, driving are all a part of our day-to-day lives. The Neighbourhood Plan will focus on ensuring our surrounding area is safe, maintained and suitable for the use of the public. Traffic and safety encompasses many multifaceted factors that will affect how we live, work and visit the area.
Check out some blog posts below telling you more of what we have within our Neighbourhood!
BLOG: OPEN SPACES AND
RIGHTS OF WAY
Written by Elizabeth Johnson-Sterling
Open spaces:
‘They are usually spaces people have chosen to use for recreation, whether formal or informal. It could be land where the public have a right to wander or and open space that has no legal protection but which people use. It could be a stretch of grass where children play, local people go blackberry picking or to enjoy a picnic.’
Rights of Way:
‘A right of way is a path that anyone has the legal right to use on foot, and sometimes using other forms of transport.
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Public footpaths are normally open only to walkers
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Public bridleways are open to walkers, horse-riders and cyclists
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Restricted byways are open to walkers, horse-riders, and drivers/riders of non-mechanically propelled vehicles (such as horse-drawn carriages and pedal cycles)
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Byways Open to All Traffic (BOATs) are open to all classes of traffic including motor vehicles, though they may not be maintained to the same standard as ordinary roads.’
Extracted from the Open Spaces Society
Living in the countryside, one often assumes that both residents and visitors are afforded ample space for recreation, but this is not always the case. An abundance of private land ownership often means that there are limited public open spaces. The council own part of Mawgan Porth beach, but not all of it, the rest is privately owned. The playing field is privately owned. That’s about the extent of open space used by members of the public with the permission of the landowners. What if those permissions were withdrawn?
We have a fair amount of rights of way in the parish, but not all used paths are legally recognised as accessible to the public. Those which are can also present accessibility problems such as surfaces and gates. We know that the road traffic, particularly during high season can present problems, wouldn’t it be great to have an even better and safer network of off-road options for all non-vehicular users to move around the local area?
In recent times more than ever we have come to appreciate how important it is for physical and mental health to be able to get outdoors and enjoy green space. These could be subjects you may wish to consider when feeding into the Neighbourhood Plan consultation. Make sure your voice is heard!
Watch your speed!
In response to concerns raised by the residents about the speed of traffic through
Trevarrian, the Parish Council applied to the Community Highways scheme to get
some traffic calming measures implemented.
After site meetings and negotiations with Cornwall Highways department, it was agreed that new ‘gateway’ signs would be installed at Trevarrian, changes would be made to the white lines around the village, the parish council would purchase and install speed monitor signs and residents would be trained for the Speedwatch scheme. You may have seen them out in their High viz tabards as they monitor traffic speeds!
You might think it would be easy to put speed monitor signs up, after all there are posts in place already at various locations, but no, nothing is ever simple! Every location has to be approved by Cornwall Highways and then the Parish Council had
to pay for new posts to be installed at the agreed locations. Only then can the speed signs be installed. The first two were in place at two locations for a while, however, the Highways advice is that they should be moved regularly, so they have been
moved. The Parish Council knows that there are other locations in the parish where there are concerns about speeding traffic. So, the Parish Council has engaged in further negotiations with the Highways Department to agree suitable sites and has
purchased further posts and monitors.
Trevarrian now has new ‘gateway’ signs on each entry road to remind motorists that they are passing through a village with a 30mph speed limit as well as the speed monitors. The Speed Monitors advise approaching motorists of their speed, but they also record data on traffic speeds which can then be downloaded. This will provide useful data to support any requests for future initiatives, such as the ‘Twenty is Plenty’ scheme.
The speed monitors will be on the move – look out for them at other locations around the parish – and please keep to the speed limit!