The Town Council is pleased that KCC has now carried out pedestrian improvement works at Stonebridge Pond. Local residents have been concerned about the speed of traffic and the difficulty in crossing the road in this area for many years and the work that has been done is a big step forward in improving safety. The general approach of building out pavements, narrowing road junctions and carriageways, has been based upon national design standards for Active Travel and we would like to see it repeated in other areas of the town in order to increase the self-enforcing nature of the 20mph speed limit and encourage more walking and cycling.
The Council is asking for a number of short term improvements to be made by KCC before the Stonebridge project is signed off – the removal of the centre line at the bottom of Davington Hill which is confusing for vehicles, the widening of the dropped kerb by the Westbrook to better account for pedestrian desire lines and the revision of double yellow lines at the end of Stonebridge Way after the moving of dropped kerbs back down the road. We also want to make sure that drivers are given a clear indication that there is a new road layout for a number of months.
We are aware that KCC is not in favour of a full pedestrian crossing at this location currently, but we would also like to see longer term improvements to give pedestrians greater priority including the introduction of ‘implied zebra crossings’ at the Westbrook and Davington Hill with road markings and road or surface changes which encourage car drivers to slow down or stop when pedestrians want to cross.
Cllr Eddie Thomas
Chair, Active Travel Committee
Cllr Julian Saunders
Vice Chair, Active Travel Committee
