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Decision session
Executive Member for Transport
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21st March 2023 |
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Report of the Director of Environment, Transport and Planning |
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Acomb Road Safety Update
Summary
1. The purpose of this paper is to update the Executive Member on progress on Road Safety concerns identified on Acomb Road.
Recommendations
2. The Executive Member is asked to:
i) Note the recommendations and progress against recommendations;
Recommendation 1 – Promote and relaunch the existing campaign to recruit a school crossing patroller on Acomb Road;
Recommendation 2 – Work with HR to review school crossing patrol role and terms and conditions;
Recommendation 3 – Review the policy for pedestrian crossings and bring to an Executive Member decision session;
Recommendation 4 – Collect speed data currently on Acomb Road to determine the level of compliance with the 30mph limit;
Recommendation 5 – Add the section of Acomb Road in the vicinity of the crossing points to Acomb Primary school and West Bank park to the Speed Limit review programme to see whether the speed limit can be reduced to 20mph;
Recommendation 6 – Ensure that speed limits review form part of the considerations of the Acomb Road Active Travel scheme;
Recommendation 7 – Note Ward scheme to improve conditions for cyclists and Safer route to school schemes on Hamilton Drive;
Recommendation 8 – Ensure the 30mph speed limit issue is reviewed as part of these schemes on Hamilton Drive;
Recommendation 9 – Explore the feasibility of crossing improvements on Acomb Road includingcollecting the data on pedestrian and traffic movements to see if this meets the criteria in Department for Transport guidance and Council policy for a safe place for a pedestrian crossing;
Recommendation 10 – Do the traffic modelling to review the impact of a banned right turn from Grantham Drive onto Acomb Road;
Recommendation 11 – Add a review of the lining on West Bank to the annual review for 23/24;
Recommendation 12 – Implement signage improvements where identified;
Reason:
To respond to resident concerns around road safety in the area;
Background
3. In December 2022 resident groups and Ward Councillors approached the Executive Member for Transport and Officers for an onsite discussion regarding road safety issues relating to walking routes to Acomb Primary School including Acomb Road.
4. This was to highlight the ongoing road safety issues and in response to the decision at the November 2022 Executive meeting when the Acomb Road Active Travel scheme was paused until funding could be secured to progress the scheme.
5. Acomb Road was proposed for exploration of an Active Travel scheme by officers and members, informed by the LCWIP scoping study which identified a potential high cycle flow on this corridor. In August 2020, Acomb Road was included in the Council’s Active Travel Fund tranche 2 bid. An amount of funding was awarded by the Department for Transport for the Council’s proposed schemes.
6. Due to insufficient funding the scheme was not progressed at this stage awaiting further funding opportunities, enabling the available active travel programme funding to be used to progress more affordable schemes from the same bid. Funding to develop a design on Acomb Road forms part of the tranche 4 Active Travel Fund bid for development funding submitted in February 2023 and a decision is due in late March 2023.
7. Sections of Acomb Road were resurfaced in 2021. In some areas the lining wasn’t reinstated in anticipation of the forthcoming Active Travel scheme and to avoid the need to remove lines which would potentially damage the newly-laid surface.
8. A site visit was undertaken on the 15th December which was attended by residents, local Ward Councillors, the Executive Member for Transport and Officers from the Transport and Communities teams.
9. Follow up site visits have been made and further work has been done to determine the best way to mitigate the short and longer term issues that have been described and observed.
10. Officers have been advised that two petitions are forthcoming in relationship to the issues in this report. These have not yet been received.
11. Map 1 shows the extent of the area identified at the site visit.
Map 1. Area around Acomb Primary school
12. The site visit route started at Acomb Road during school drop off time observing the desired routes of pedestrians south across Acomb Road then after this peak in pedestrian movement, moving west to Moorgate, south along Moorgate to Hamilton Drive. East along Hamilton Drive and back to Acomb Road through West Bank Park. West Bank, which leads to the primary school, was also discussed.
Residents feedback
13. At the site visit and as part of subsequent feedback from the “Parent Safer Roads campaign” made representations on a number of different aspects of safety in the area. The focus is requesting “immediate action” as the road safety in this area is a “serious threat to our children”.
14. The key campaign objectives are:
- “The installation of pedestrian crossings on both Acomb Road and Hamilton Drive, to give children and their families a safe way to cross these key routes to school and around our community”;
- “The introduction of 20mph zones around the school on both Acomb Road and Hamilton Drive, in the case of Hamilton Drive bringing arrangements in line with those already in place for Hob Moor School and Our Ladies Queen of Martyrs”;
15. It was also noted that there was dissatisfaction with the November 2022 Active Travel Projects decision. It was requested that a percentage (15%) of funding be reallocated to support short term measures on Acomb Road and Hamilton Drive as the current conditions “pose a very dangerous threat to our children,” and take a partial approach to implementation of that “Very high priority” scheme allowing for “urgent safety measures” to be introduced.
Safety of pedestrians and cyclists, particularly children, around the Acomb Road area
16. The site visit focused first on the crossing of Acomb Road.
17. During the morning school drop off there are a significant number of pedestrians, with a large proportion being children, crossing from the North side of Acomb Road to the refuge in the middle of the carriageway and on to the South side of Acomb Road (see Map 2 below).
Map 2. Pedestrian Desire-line
18. At the site visit the residents were clear that they felt there were safety issues for children crossing at any time of the day. The pedestrian flows at school opening and closing times show a large increase.
19. During the site visit and the subsequent site visit by Officers it was noted that the pedestrian and vehicular movement flow increased during the school drop off period and reduced significantly afterwards to a level consistent with this type of route across the City.
20. At present, when analysing the need for a pedestrian crossing the council has a policy based on surveys of pedestrian and vehicle volumes and there is a concern that this doesn’t take into account supressed demand (the number of pedestrians who would cross if the facility was there). The policy will be the subject of a review and will go to a decision session of the Executive Member for Transport.
21. This location historically had been serviced by a school crossing patrol, however, the last patroller left the role 18 months to 2 years ago and there has been no interest shown by members of the public in subsequent recruitment campaigns. Another recruitment campaign is currently ongoing, in collaboration with the school. Postcards and flyers have been left in libraries, local church and community hubs and a banner will imminently be placed at the school to try to increase interest and to advertise the vacant role.
22. Recommendation 1 – Promote and relaunch the existing campaign to recruit a school crossing patroller on Acomb Road.
23. Recommendation 2 – Work with HR to review school crossing patrol role and terms and conditions.
24. Recommendation 3 – Review the policy for pedestrian crossings and bring to an Executive Member decision session.
25. There were general comments on speeds on Acomb Road and a desire for the limit on Acomb Road (extent to be determined - in the vicinity of the crossing points to Acomb Primary school and West Bank park) to be reduced to 20mph.
26. Acomb Road is a key distributor route as it forms part of the primary route between Acomb and the city centre and from a wider perspective is key to expedient movement of traffic across the City. The view is that a reduction from 30mph to 20mph in the absence of any form of traffic calming measures in the area is unlikely to be adhered to due to the nature of the road and enforcement would be challenging. Alongside the review of speed limits, further traffic calming measures will be explored.
27. The most recent speed survey was carried out in 2021, this was at the end of Hobgate near the police station mean speeds of 24mph. A survey was undertaken in 2016 and mean speed Westbound 27.5mph, Eastbound 26.8mph. On the 800 metre stretch between the Hebden Rise and Lindley Street junctions, Police records show there have been five injury accidents in the last three years with no obvious clusters. Three involved a collision with a cycle and one near Murray Street involved a pedestrian. This number of accidents is not considered particularly unusual for an urban B-road. Up to date speed surveys will be done on the current speed limit of 30mph.
28. This section of Acomb Road will be added to the speed limit programme to see whether the limit can be reduced. When Acomb Road was last resurfaced part of the centre line was not reinstated. This was in anticipation of the Acomb Road Active Travel scheme and avoided a situation where lining needed to be removed shortly afterwards, which had the potential to damage the newly-laid road surface. Previous studies have shown that the lack of a centre-line can help to reduce speeds on a road, however, complaints have been received which state that the opposite effect has been seen and speeds may well have increased. This will be considered as part of the review.
29. As part of the longer-term Active Travel scheme, there will be an opportunity to review the speed limit based on the design that comes forward and will provide a further opportunity to review, if the conclusion is that.
30. Recommendation 4 – Collect speed data currently on Acomb Road to determine the level of compliance with the 30mph limit;
31. Recommendation 5 – Add the section of Acomb Road in the vicinity of the crossing points to Acomb Primary school and West Bank park to the Speed Limit review programme to see whether the speed limit can be reduced to 20mph;
32. Recommendation 6 – Ensure that speed limits review form part of the considerations of the Acomb Road Active Travel scheme.
33. There was also identified a break in the 20mph zone (to 30mph) on Hamilton Drive. There is a Ward scheme in progress to look at improvements for cyclists and a safer routes to school scheme identified for Our Lady Queen of Martyrs school. These projects will enable a review of the environment on Hamilton Drive and the speed limit issue can be addressed.
34. Recommendation 7 – Note Ward scheme to improve conditions for cyclists and Safer route to school schemes on Hamilton Drive.
35. Recommendation 8 – Ensure the 30mph speed limit issue is reviewed as part of these schemes on Hamilton Drive.
36. Whilst the obvious short-term improvement on Acomb Road is a school crossing patrol, this has been challenging to achieve so other solutions are being considered. Including:
- Exploring the feasibility of crossing improvements on Acomb Road by collecting the data on pedestrian and traffic movements to see if this meets the criteria in Department for Transport guidance and Council policy for a safe place for a pedestrian crossing and/or other intervention (including enlargement of the pedestrian refuge, repeater wig-wag signals), with potential Ward funding support. This work has been commissioned. The proximity of the desired pedestrian route to junctions and the bus stop on the Eastbound carriage way make this complex and moving a crossing further West or East along Acomb Road may not have the desired result as pedestrians may revert to the current desire line;
- Make a change to traffic movements from Grantham Drive. After the site visit, further work was done on nature of journeys around the Acomb Road and Grantham Drive (see Map 3). Grantham Drive connects Poppleton Road and Acomb Road and vehicles commonly use this route when travelling between the two. Vehicle manoeuvre issues raised at the site visit included the right turn from Grantham Drive onto Acomb Road as this brings the vehicle to the desired crossing point. It has been suggested that the right turn out of Grantham Drive onto Acomb Road could be banned, but this may well displace vehicles onto other parts of the network in the local area.
37. Recommendation 9 – Explore the feasibility of crossing improvements on Acomb Road including collecting the data on pedestrian and traffic movements to see if this meets the criteria in Department for Transport guidance and Council policy for a safe place for a pedestrian crossing;
38. Recommendation 10 – Do the traffic modelling to review the impact of a banned right turn from Grantham Drive onto Acomb Road.
Map 3: Highlights how Grantham Drive connects to Poppleton Road and Acomb Road.
39. West Bank acts as the access road to the Primary school. On West Bank it was observed that there is a break in the double yellow lines where vehicles are often parked (see Map 4). The purpose of this break is to provide further parking for the flats on the corner of West Bank and Acomb Road. There is an issue when cars are parked on this small stretch as the pinchpoint it creates reduces West Bank down to one lane. It therefore creates a conflict if vehicles are heading north to Acomb Road at the same time as vehicles are turning into West Bank from Acomb Road. This not only creates a pinchpoint for motorised vehicles but also, cyclists making journeys to and from the school.
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Map 4: Desire lines for pedestrians (AM school drop off) and indicative area where double yellow lines stop.
40. Recommendation 11 – Add a review of the lining on West Bank to the annual review for 23/24
41. Issues and potential improvements with respect to signage and lining on Acomb Road and in the area were identified at the site visit with residents and during the subsequent site visit. Including:
- The height of the school sign on the westbound approach to the junction;
- Improved gateway signage for the 7.5 tonne limit on Moorgate;
42. Recommendation 12 – Implement signage improvements where identified.
Council Plan
43. This report is supportive of the following priorities in the Council Plan which focuses on key outcomes that include:
· Good health and wellbeing
· Getting around sustainably and
· A greener and cleaner City of York Council safe communities and culture for all.
Implications
Financial
44. There are no specific financial implications arising from the report. The cost of signage and lining improvements can be met within existing budgets. The financial implications of any longer term improvements will be considered as part of the decision making process for those schemes.
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Human Resources (HR)
46. HR will support the service to review if anything can be done to make the role of School Crossing Patroller more attractive.
Legal
47. The proposed items referred to above will have legal implications when they are progressed, such as the need to make Traffic Regulation Orders pursuant to the Council’s statutory powers.
Equalities
48. The Council recognises its Public Sector Equality Duty under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other prohibited conduct; advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it in the exercise of a public authority’s functions. Equalities Impact assessments will be carried out where work is taken forward as a result of this paper.
Crime and Disorder
49. There are no implications around the decisions in this report.
Information Technology (IT)
50. There are no implications around the decisions in this report.
Property
51. There are no implications around the decisions in this report.
Other
52. There are no other implications identified.
Risk Management
53. The risks associated with the delivery of the outcomes of this report are highlighted in the body of the report.