Nether Edge Neighbourhood Group is helping to work toward holistic solutions to the city's traffic problems...
A recent survey has indicated that the volume of traffic travelling through Nether Edge to get between Ecclesall road South and Abbeydale road South has increased by 50% in ten years. At the same time traffic calming measures have not been able to stop the increased traffic. The hot spots include Brincliffe Edge, Archer road, Union road and Sheldon road. The Nether Edge Neighbourhood Group has said that the driving behaviour outside Psalter Lane Infants School has to be seen to be believed.
The chairman of the Nether Edge Neighbourhood Group, Richard Ward, has said that the aim is to work towards holistic solutions; they do not want their actions to lead to more problems for Sharrow. “We have got a problem. We acknowledge we are not unique. We are just nibbling away with limited resources to try to improve things.” “There is a lot of traffic calming in Nether Edge, but the background traffic is growing and growing and we are asking how we can tackle that.”
The solutions are relatively simple to implement and have been done elsewhere; they include a better bus service to and from the hospitals and the university campus in Broomhill. More pedestrian crossings, cycling facilities and walking schools will also help.
The root cause has been new retail developments and the 300 new flats that have been built in Nether Edge in four years.
The Community activists are already working with the Sharrow Forum and the national living streets initiative.
www.livingstreets.org.uk
Comments
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road safety
22.07.2004 18:05
there are qualified road safety engineers who can produce a more detailed plan of action for a particular area than this. local road users may think they know how to solve traffic problems in their area and they may hit on some good ideas, but a road safety engineer will see and recommend a whole lot more. their reports are very influential when it comes to lobbying councils to improve road conditions. this will include compelling them to make significant changes to road layouts rather than just cosmetic measures. it isn't cheap, but RoSPA provide a 'road safety audit':
it's an independent report free from bias as far as i know. every school should have one.
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Street parties
22.07.2004 18:13
Whilst its admirable to try to treat the problem holistically I think there is a limit to the amount of influence small neighbourhood groups can have. Some nimbyism* here is appropropriate. If every neighbourhood took the initiative Broomhall has there would be considerably less space for traffic all round which would result in more drivers choosing alternative means of transport.
Once the road traffic gets down to a certain speeds some people voluntarily look for alternatives. Sadly the low speed that people are prepared is very slow hence lots of slow moving traffic.
NIMBY* - Not In My BackYard
cyclist
could you clarify
24.07.2004 13:33
"Whilst its admirable to try to treat the problem holistically* I think there is a limit to the amount of influence small neighbourhood groups can have."
holistically: Emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts
"Richard Ward, has said that the aim is to work towards holistic solutions; they do not want their actions to lead to more problems for Sharrow."
"The Community activists are already working with the Sharrow Forum and the national living streets initiative"
So are you for or against what the netheredge neighbourhood group are doing?
so.... stuff is happening, i just can't wait untill these ideas are exported to the rest of the city.
writers workshoper