Parishioners will be aware from earlier reports that members of the Parish Council met with Mr Chris Hilldrup on 29 October and examined all the issues raised at the Extraordinary Meeting of the Village in August. Since then the A303 project has gone through its closing down procedures, including a Community Forum in Andover on 12 November, where Mr Hilldrup, as the National Highways Route Manager for Wiltshire, took on the responsibilities for all the issues that the Amesbury to Berwick Down project would have addressed. At the Parish Council’s request, Mr Hilldrup had a meeting in the village on 26 November with Mr Bob Ecclestone, Wiltshire Roads Policing Unit, to examine the road safety issues identified by villagers. These are early days in getting something done to address our concerns, but we have two influential people from National Highways and Wiltshire police who understand the problems and are escalating the issues within their organisations.
Following the meeting with members of Winterbourne Stoke Parish Council, and various visits up and down the A303, Mr Hilldrup has worked out his 4 priorities. These are:
- Winterbourne Stoke. Work towards a speed reduction in the village. Introduce rumble strips to slow traffic. Move the bus stop on the Eastbound Carriageway (He and Mr Ecclestone were horrified that school children have to wait “in a hedge” for their bus ). He also wants to stop long-term parking in the lay-bys that blocks visibility of drivers trying to get onto the A303.
- Longbarrow Roundabout. He described the road-marking arrows on the road as trying to “squeeze a quart into a pint pot” and that as a roundabout, it does not work.
- The A303 near the Stones. He described the stones as a huge distraction and wants to even out the traffic flow on this section of the A303. He wants to install speed cameras on this part of the road, but this has a number of issues that he has to address.
- Amesbury. The underpass under the A303 floods regularly and he says that he cannot have pedestrians crossing 4 lanes of traffic by the Countess roundabout. However, there is currently no budget for an £8m pedestrian bridge.
Mr Hilldrup also mentioned that he was well aware of the concerns of Shrewton Parish Council regarding rat running, and wanted to improve traffic flow on the A303 as mitigation. The Parish Council liaises regularly with Shrewton Parish Council so that we can work together for the common good.
The Parish Council has had two outstanding Request for Information Act (FOIA) requests for sometime. The first concerned the Bridge on the A303 by Cleeve View. Corrosion of the iron rebar reinforcements and spalling of the concrete had been recorded under the bridge which was built in 1939. National Highways had responded to the question by saying that routine inspections take place on the surface from a slow moving vehicle and that inspection teams would not enter a water course. When challenged on this, Mr Hilldrup indicated that he was not satisfied with the response, and that he had spoken about the matter to the National Highways Head of Structures, Mr Terry Robinson. The failure of road bridges in the UK is very rare, but National Highways are now firmly aware of the issues and have the responsibility to act accordingly. The issue raised by Councillors was that should the bridge, which may becoming close to the end of its lifespan, have to receive extensive repairs then traffic management would be a serious issue if wholesale rat-running through Stapleford, Berwick and Shrewton were to be avoided.
The second question regarded the status of the road. Counter-intuitively National Highways class the A303 in Winterbourne Stoke as an urban road as it is subject to a 40 mph speed limit. This does not conform entirely with the Department of Transport definitions, but seems to indicate clearly the dichotomy of the A303 being both a village High Street and part of the National Strategic Road Network, most of which is motorway or dual-carriageway. As an urban road, the speed limit could be reduced to 30 mph, which is the Parish Council’s primary aim.
Finally, National Highway has planned a safety inspection of the A303 from the Countess Roundabout to Longbarrow Roundabout for early 2025@. Following his meetings in the village, Mr Hilldrup has escalated the issues raised by us up the National Highways “chain of command” and Winterbourne Stoke is now included in the formal safety inspection plan. In addition he has achieved a degree of “buy in” from his superiors, however, the amount of “buy in” can only be assessed later when budgets are allocated.