Pump Corner - Tory County Council Takes No Action

2.00.00pm GMT Mon 3rd Mar 2008

The County Council's Pump Corner Task Group, set up following a meeting with residents last November, has finally met. However, the Tory controlled County Council has failed to explain why the changes to Pump Corner introduced last year included elements, such as the West Street traffic lights, which were not in the original proposals presented to and agreed by residents; it has also failed to bring forward to the Task Group a viable set of options to improve traffic flow through the junction.

Liberal Democrat County Councillor Hazel Watson has taken the lead in seeking improvements to the junction having promoted the rephasing of the lights last Autumn which increased the number of cars that could pass along West Street and the High Street. She has also, having been entrusted by local Councillors with the Chairmanship of the Task Group as a result of her actions, actively pressed County Highways to come up with revised proposals for Pump Corner that residents can consider.

After the Task Group Meeting, she said, "Residents expected options from which a viable plan could be developed. Incredibly, all that the Tory controlled Council presented was a plan that both Highways Officers and the Police said that they could not support".

The County Council has also reneged on its commitment to Hazel Watson to hood the lights for a trial period so that the exact effect of the lights could be determined.

As a result, the upshot of the meeting was simply that the turn right cycle lane from the High Street to North Street should be removed.

Hazel Watson said, "I am deeply disappointed that our Tory controlled County Council has failed to respond to requests from local residents and myself to bring forward a viable set of options which residents could consider and which, when implemented, could reduce traffic queues along West Street and Westcott Road."