Hillsborough Corner TRO

I've had the notification of the Experimental Traffic Order that amends the hours of operation of the bus and tram gates on Middlewood Rd from 0700 to 1900 daily to 0700-1100 and 1500-1900 on Monday to Saturday inclusive

As it is experimental it will be in force for six months and the City Council will be considering whether the provisions of the Experimental Order should be continued in force indefinitely.

The grounds for objection, should anyone wish to do so, are quite specific so I am copying them here:-

Any person who wishes to question the validity of the Order or any of its provisions on the grounds that it is not within the powers of the enabling Act or that a requirement of the enabling Act or any of the relevant regulations made thereunder has not been complied with may, within six weeks of the 29th day of October 2009, make application for that purpose to the High Court.

As you can see from that the grounds for objection are pretty stringent!

However I can see one potential grounds for objection, that this notice is dated "this 30th day of October" - i.e. tomorrow.

I think the hours that the bus gate will operate for cover a large part of the working day and it might not be as bad as we feared. There is an opportunity to make representations during the six month experimental period,


Also covered in this mailing:-

Lydgate Lane and Monteney Crescent

Basically traffic calming around Lydgate Infant & Middle School


Meadow Street Revised Permit Parking Scheme.

Adjustments to the existing parking permit scheme.

Will be happy to pass on plans to anyone who wants to have a look.

Address for making representations:-

Mrs C Doran
Development Environment and Leisure
2-10 Carbrook Hall,
Sheffield
S9 2DB

Issues for Cycle Forum

Cyclesheffield has posted the following issues for response by the council at the Cycle Forum:-

Penistone Road / Hillfoot

On the recent NCN6 ride it was noted that the cycle crossing at Hillfoot/Penistone road didn't seem to have been retimed to take advantage of the new left turn only lane making this a very long wait.

Corporation Street: Roundabout over river cycle lane The signal controlled cycle lane across the centre of the roundabout from Mowbray St to Nursery St is activated by a waiting cyclist. On arriving at this signal traffic is often emerging from Nursery St suggesting that it would be safe to cycle across rather than stop – but the signal is on red and it takes quite a while to wait for the next Nursery St phase. Changing this would speed up cyclist journeys and increase use of this cycle lane.

West St / Eldon St

The cycle bypass to allow cyclists uphill onto West St has a noentry

sign – is it missing an 'Except Cyclists' sign underneath? (FYI this is easily viewed on Google Streetview)

Abbeydale Road / Fieldhead Road & Staveley Road

How about a toucan crossing on Abbeydale Road at Fieldhead and Staveley Roads? This would

allow cyclists to get across more easily in traffic and complement the existing cycle route here. A lot of pedestrians struggle to get across here too.

I have a few more, gathered at last nights cyclesheffield meeting - apologies for late submission, I appreciate it may not be possible to provide answers for todays meeting:

Mappin St - the contraflow lane was "overlooked" when this was made one-way, then delayed by the RNIB re-build. When will this now be implemented?

Clarkson-Osborne building, Penistone Rd - I read in the Telegraph that this is now to be demolished, which is a great shame as it is a classic building of its type. However, it does give an opportunity to sort out this section of the Penistone Rd cycle route, NCN6, which passes too close to the vehicle access points of the building for safety. Could officers please ensure that this problem is addressed?

We were advised that Supertram cyclist's safety work would commence during this financial year, but we have yet to see anything on the ground. When is this scheduled for?

Bramall Lane subways - is there any progress on "cycle-ising" this, as it now has cycle lanes approaching from nearly every direction? (With the exception of Bramall Lane - London Rd to the south of St Mary's gate, which would be useful for some journeys)

2 New planning apps

The council has submitted 2 new planning apps: one is for an extension to the Chapeltown Greenway - this will take it as far as the Yalta industrial Estate which IS in Chapeltown: A future extension will link it to the TPT at NCN/TPT at Cart Road early next year, subject to a funding bid recently submitted. The route will be bituminized as well. This is great news for Chapeltown residents who will have a route free of motor traffic all the way to Meadowhall. In particular it will avoid the nasty hill between Chapeltown and Ecclesfield.

The other one is for an "iconic" bridge over the Parkway near Tinsley Golf Course. This will remedy the shameful current situation where pedestrians, cyclists and horse-riders are supposed to cross the 70 mph Sheffield Parkway at surface level.

I will be writing to support both these applications - should you wish to comment you can do so

at SCC's planning portal, http://planning.sheffield.gov.uk/publicaccess/DC/dc_home.aspx

by searching for following refs:

Chapeltown Ref: 09/02522/FUL

Parkway Ref: 09/02783/FUL

More Traffic Regulation Orders

Glossop Rd: Extend tram gate as far as Cavendish St. Operating 4-6:30 p.m.
we support this although there are concerns about the impact on cyclists using the Portobello cycle route, as traffic will be diverted across it.

Parson Cross Child Safety Zone

We Support this: However we would like to see the implementation of CSV's accelerated by bringing in 20mph zones without waiting for infrastructure improvements.

TRO's

Wincobank School, Newman Rd & Lydgate Lane

Traffic calming & Waiting restrictions.

CTC supports these proposals.

TROs

Bunch of TRO's relating to the Tudor Square refurbishment, tightening up parking and loading restrictions. I'm going to write to support these.

Bus Punctuality Improvement Plan

Responded to this today.

The proposal covers a raft of measure to extend bus lanes on Bolsover St, Exchange Place, introduce a bus gate at Station Rd Woodhouse, and revoke an existing bus gate at Southey Hill (which was unpopular with residents apparently) replacing it with traffic calming.

It is also proposed to exclude motorcycles from bus gates on Furnival Rd at Derek Dooley Way, Holme Lane to Langsett Rd at Hillsboro Corner, Infirmary Rd to Penistone Rd at Shalesmoor, London Rd at Asline Rd, & Shalesmoor. This is because DfT rules do not allow the council to lawfully sign bus gates for motorcycles.Shucks.

Response:-


Thank you for your letter dated the 18th of March.

We SUPPORT the measures at Bolsover St, Exchange Place/Park Square and Woodhouse terminus.

We OBJECT to the removal of the Bus Gate at Southey Hill. This will increase motor traffic in the area and make it more dangerous for cyclists.

Exclusion of motorcyclists. We are pleased to see that the Department for Transport has taken a more logical view on this issue than Sheffield City Council. However, as the council has previously made it known that motorcycles are allowed to use bus lanes even when there are no signs permitting them to do so, signs should now be erected specifically excluding them from these facilities.