Issue and Options 2023

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Local infrastructure If both councils are serious about developing a long-term plan, then they should be looking at much more than just a call for sites and what development people / companies want to do over the next 20 years. None of this will work properly without improving the infrastructure in this area. Indeed many of the current traffic and transport problems which currently beset us are due to the lack of infrastructure over the last 20 or so years while allowing unrestrained local development in and around all the major towns and villages in the area. A couple of local items will help improve the immediate situations around Sherbourne: 1) Watery Lane in Sherbourne is regularly used as a short cut (rat run) by local residents who wish to avoid driving round the M40/A46 and the Sherbourne roundabouts to join the A46 towards Stratford upon Avon. Despite being a narrow rural lane with no footpaths the speed limit is 40 mph which is excessive for a narrow lane which is regularly used by pedestrians, dog walkers and horse riders. The speed needs to be reduced to 30 mph both for safety reasons and to reduce the benefit and the desire to take the short cut. Previous attempts to have the speed limit reduced have been rebuffed by WCC on the basis that there have been no fatalities. The local residents would like that to remain the case. 2) The other problem that Sherbourne residents face is that of joining the A429 heading either north or south. Often the northbound traffic is continuous and causes long delays exiting Fulbrook Lane heading north, In theory polite drivers would allow residents to pull out, but this doesn’t happen. Trying to exit heading south is even harder as this relies on gaps in traffic in both directions. a. As a minimum this junction needs updating with a right turn ‘ghost island’ in the centre of the A429 to allow cars heading south and wishing to turn right to pull into the centre to await the opportunity to turn, or for cars exiting Fulbrook Lane to cross half the A429 and wait for a gap in the southbound traffic. b. There is enough land there to do this as the southbound side of the A429 has a large grassed area, although this currently has a number of Green BT cabinets installed which would need moving. 3) Moving further afield there are a number of traffic problems with the layout and running of M40 J15 and J14. a. M40 J15 used to have yellow boxes painted on the roadway to keep the access to the various sideroads clear and keep traffic flowing. This generally used to work well, not always, but much of the time. When the roundabout was widened to four lanes all round, National Highways changed the layout and removed the yellow boxes, which now causes delays getting off the A429 onto the roundabout – particularly for those heading towards either Warwick or the M40 South. Similarly the traffic on the roundabout blocks the road where the Stratford Road from Warwick joins the roundabout, which lacks traffic lights, causing considerable traffic backlogs along the Stratford Road. i. Suitably placed yellow boxes would help improve traffic flow on these roads without slowing down the traffic from the main routes – A46 and M40. ii. Having convinced National Highways to paint yellow boxes on the roundabout they need to address their maintenance schedule. They have a schedule for re-painting the main lane markings which is done for them by their contractor Keir. This is not done frequently enough. The traffic volumes on the roundabout mean the lines wear out every couple of years and there is another couple of years before they are repainted. They are only just visible on a clean road on a clear day. But they are next to invisible in wet weather or when there is salt on the roads – basically most of the winter. At time of writing (March 2023) there are signs around the roundabout saying NO WHITE LINES so someone official knows they need doing, but nothing is happening. The area doesn’t just need infrastructure being put in place, it needs to be maintained properly. b. M40 J14 is just an accident waiting to happen. It should never have been designed as a half junction so close to J15, but that is too late to worry about now. Now the problem is that during rush hours, traffic trying to exit J14 southbound backs up so far that it takes over the hard shoulder. Although this keeps some of the queues off the carriageway there are still numerous occasions where drivers of both cars and trucks change lanes suddenly to either try and leave the motorway, or to avoid unforeseen queues. I see this every morning I go to work heading south on the M40 and while I have never actually seen an accident I would be astounded if there hadn’t been any. i. This junction was improved slightly a few years ago, which improved the situation a little, but not sufficiently. ii. The junction needs to be radically improved so that when the traffic leaves the motorway, the roundabout is removed, there are two lanes of traffic heading along the A452, so the left hand lane can head towards Warwick, Warwick Technology Park and Europa Way into Leamington, while the right hand lane can take traffic up to the roundabout and onto the Banbury road towards Bishops Tachbrook, M40 J13 and on to the new Upper Lighthorne town, the Gaydon Aston Martin and JLR sites and Gaydon village.