County Council procedures. Why change the scheme?
It is not clear why Scheme 1 was replaced at all. North Yorkshire County Council's own guidelines state that a scheme can be amended if there is "significant adverse reaction" to the proposals. (The relevant text is at the bottom of this page) In Easingwold there was exactly the opposite of significant adverse reaction: there was significant positive reaction to Scheme 1.
The Easingwold 20 Zone Campaign asked for copies of all the correspondence received by the County Council in its consultation process. The documents they sent us, and those obtained from Easingwold Town Council, show the following:
The Town Council voted for speed tables outside the primary school in November 2001. North Yorkshire Police wrote to say it "fully supports" Scheme 1 in August 2002. Hambleton District Council, The National Farmers Union, The Stagecoach Bus Company, and A E Spink and Son (who operate the weighbridge on Thirsk Road) all wrote to the Highways Authority saying they had no objection to Scheme 1.
Six residents who live within or close to the proposed 20mph zone area wrote to the Highways Authority to say either they have no objections to Scheme 1, with its speed tables, or that they were totally in support of it and believed it ought to be even more extensive.
Five residents who live within or close to the proposed 20mph zone wrote to say they were opposed to Scheme 1 - including one who claims that speeding is an imaginary problem (!)
It can be seen that more residents were in favour of Scheme 1, with the speed tables, than were against it. And the Town Council, the Police, the NFU, Stagecoach buses, and Spink's - the major business on Thirsk Road - all wrote to say they had no objections.
Research shows that speed cushions don't slow the traffic enough. The County Council originally wanted a scheme with three speed tables - and the Town Council voted to accept it. When it 'lost' one speed table it still wanted two speed tables in Scheme 1 - and so did the majority of people it consulted.
So why has Scheme 1 with speed tables which will work, been replaced by Scheme 1a, which won't? And why was the original scheme with three speed tables (Scheme 0?) quietly scrapped sometime between November 2001 and the following summer? We think we should be told.
North Yorkshire County Council's consultation process for 20mph zones: The NYCC Local Transport Plan Progress Report 2003 includes the following information on 20mph zone consultations:
"Whenever preliminary proposals result in significant adverse reaction, for example in the form of a petition from residents and/or businesses, the matter is referred to the relevant County Area Committee in order to ensure that all Members have an opportunity to influence the way forward. In most cases the decision is to take an amended scheme to a further round of consultation but occasionally it is decided to take no further action where it has been made clear by the community that it is opposed to traffic calming measures of any kind. In such an eventuality, a replacement scheme is introduced into the programme."
The full text is available on the County Council's website as a pdf document. Download a copy here. You will need Adobe Acrobat to read it. You can download an Acrobat reader here
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