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News
Needwood Action Group
Disbanded September 2007
Page last update on 03 November 2008
Message from the Chair - NEW IMPETUS FOR NAG!
The last NAG meeting was the best attended in two years, with more than 50 people from around the village coming along to make their views on the problem of traffic through Barton heard. The plans of Burton Freight Quality Partnership to make Station Road and Main Street a preferred route for trucks certainly seems to have galvanised opinion and given new impetus to NAG. Our concern now is not to waste this momentum. We want everyone who came along to the last meeting to come to the next, and to tell his or her friends and neighbours to come along too. We need your help! We aim to keep putting pressure on Staffordshire County Council to abandon putting Barton on preferred truck route map, and also to use the strength of opinion in the village to get long-term changes made to the traffic situation in the village.
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I look forward to seeing you on the 23rd September. Alan
Skipper Chair, |
NEXT NAG! MEETING
Thursday 23rd September 7.30pm at the Red Lion, Main Street, Barton-under-Needwood. Everyone is welcome to attend. Come along and make your views known!
Signs point the way to reduced traffic
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New NAG! Signs will soon be appearing throughout Barton aimed at reducing heavy truck traffic and lowering speeds. Two new sign designs will soon be appearing throughout Barton aimed at encouraging truck drivers to find other routes and asking all motorists to drive more slowly. The signs will be placed on lampposts and telegraph poles, mainly along Main Street and Station Road. They have no legal meaning but similar campaigns have been successful in other areas. Alan Skipper, NAG Chair, said: “The idea for the signs came from Transport 2000, a national independent transport campaign that has helped many communities with their traffic problems. To be honest, we have little idea what their impact in Barton will be but they do make clear to truck drivers and others using the village as a shortcut that they are not welcome here and should find a more appropriate route”. The signs are made of a tough plastic material and are designed to stay in place for at least six months when a decision whether to replace them, based on their effectiveness, will be made. What do you think about the new NAG signs? Come along to our next meeting and make your views known! |
Call the NAG! Hotline
Seen a truck mount the pavement? Noted that one particular haulage operator seems to be directing large numbers of trucks through the village? Simply fed up of seeing a particular vehicle parked on double yellow lines? Then call the NAG Hotline! We'll help you make a complaint to the right authorities or even make the complaint for you. Remember, traffic problems in Barton appear to be underreported to both the Police and the County Council - we need to tell them about incidents. So call the NAG! Hotline now! The number is 07810 785524.
Preferred truck route update
More than 50 Barton residents have written to Staffordshire County Council expressing their concern at the village becoming a designated truck route. A strong response from Barton villagers has seen the Burton Freight Quality Partnership and Staffordshire County Council examine again their plans to add Station Road and Main Street to a new map specially designed for truck drivers. A new investigation into truck movements in the area is planned by Staffordshire County Council that will aim to establish whether traffic travelling through Barton is using the village as a shortcut or has legitimate local business. It is believed that this will be taken into account as part of the lorry map decision-making process. In addition, NAG representatives will be meeting officers from Staffordshire County Council within the next few weeks to discuss both the preferred truck route map and our traffic problems in general. Remember, if you haven't yet done so; write to Staffordshire County Council to tell them about your objections against Barton becoming a preferred route for trucks.
Write to Geoff Kitching, Staffordshire County Council, Riverway, Stafford, ST16 3TJ or geoff.kitching@staffordshire.gov.uk
Don't drive on the pavement
NAG is asking residents throughout Barton to not park their vehicles half on the pavement in attempt to make the village more difficult for trucks to drive through. The practice is actually illegal and, periodically, the Police have asked residents along certain roads in the village to stop doing so. Alan Skipper, NAG chair, said: "A key part of cutting heavy traffic through the village is simply to make our roads more difficult to travel along. Residents in several points along Main Street and Station Road park on the pavement and, in doing so, they are making our roads easier for heavy trucks to use. "We realise that by parking on the road, residents are increasing the risk that their car will be clipped by a passing vehicle, but we believe that in the long term this move could be quite an important step in helping to dissuade truck drivers from cutting through Barton."
News in brief
PRESIDENT FOR NAG: We'd like to appoint a president who could be figurehead for our campaign - someone without strong political affiliations who has connections in the local area and is well known would be ideal! Do you have any ideas who we could nominate? If so, contact NAG chair Alan Skipper.
METRO SIGN: Following a dialogue with NAG, Metro are to put up a sign outside their store asking people not to park on the double yellow lines outside their store, where parked vehicles often make the use of the crossing more dangerous. Our thanks go to them.
BARDON AGGREGATES: Aggregate Industries are to enter into a voluntary agreement with Staffordshire County Council that should mean that none of their heavy trucks travel through Barton. We're working on seeing whether any more of these "good neighbour" agreements can be made with other local companies.
TRAFFIC SURVEY: In addition to the traffic survey planned by Staffordshire County Council, we're going to carry out our own but we need volunteers. If you could spare an hour or so to count traffic and note down other details, please get in touch.
STANDARD LETTER: Having trouble composing that letter of complaint about traffic to the Police or Staffordshire County Council? We have a range of standard letters that you could use simply call Kingsley Hayzelden on 07836 354475 and he will be able to help you.
WEIGHT RESTRICTIONS: Now the summer holidays are over, it's time to start looking at the village weight restrictions again. School coaches should not be using Efflinch Lane as a shortcut and are not exempt from the 7.5 tonne restriction. If you have seen one, take down the details and contact Brandon Cook, Staffordshire County Council, Riverway, Stafford, ST16 3TJ or Brandon.cook@staffordshire.gov.uk
Contact Us
If you would like any details regarding meetings or progress so far, please call Chair Alan Skipper 01283 716471, Secretary Liz Barnes 01283 716317, Treasurer Tessa Breeze 01283 711907, Publicity Simon Wells 01283 711311.
If you have any
news or views that you would like to share with us or would like
published in the newsletter, please call.