Over the last few years I have reported on the campaign to introduce traffic calming & speed reduction measures for the B4363, Hermitage Hill in Bridgnorth. In 2002 options for introducing a speed limit were consulted on. After deliberation as local member I signed of on the scheme full expecting the immanent arrival of the scheme.
In December 2004 I was dismayed to learn that the scheme would be scaled back. A much reduced level of commitment was proposed due to funding difficulties. The new proposal was to introduce a 30mph limit just above the junction with lodge lane. From there up the hill the road would remain at the national speed limit. As previously reported on my website I was grateful for some sign of progress but would not be happy until the whole scheme was fully implemented. The new proposal presented its own difficulties as vehicles coming down the hill would not get enough warning about the new speed limit.
The original scheme was consigned once again to stagnate as a ‘service request’, to be investigated and prioritised against other requests, with no guarantee it would be implemented. But at least the 30mph signs were on there way.
For three consecutive years I had been fobbed off with promises that the scheme would be implemented in that financial year. The new 30mph signs were supposed to have appeared in the then current 2004/2005 financial year. Here we are nearly at the end of the 2005/2006 financial year and those same signs have still not materialised. Today I have learnt that even those 30mph signs has also been consigned to a ‘service request’.
To say I am disappointed is an understatement. We have had serious collisions by the junction with Lodge Lane. Several years ago pensioners reported to the Annual Town Meeting, at St Mary’s school, of terrifying incidents where HGVs had nearly collided with their car when exiting the junction. It is high time there was some serious action at this extremely dangerous junction.