Once again Tesco puts the moves on Stourport this time over the river and in Areley Kings, this time with a bid to turn the old Squirrel Inn into a Tesco Express.To some this may seem a little odd given the hold-up with the new store that, rumour has it, will finally be built and ready by September this year. However this isn't odd in the slightest given the proximity of a Londis, a newsagents, and a pharmacy.
I published a post in February about the three-way lights set-up in Dunley Road, how being manually controlled meant there was no requirement for them; how they could work well provided that those in control were monitoring the end with the majority of the traffic. Well guess what they've just set-up on Dunley Road? Another three way set of lights. Not in the same place I might add, and not even in the same circumstances - it's worse.
In this instance the third part is at Areley Lane a barely used carriageway. The controlling lights once again however are just at the end of this so the situation is identical, but with even less traffic to monitor at the third point. Amusingly (or not) lights had already been placed at exactly this same point - two sets of lights and everything worked with no problem. Not content with making the delays longer the contractors monitor the controls from only the Areley end and as they're positioned on a bend they can't see the either of the other two exits without walking around to take a look.
That's fine in the morning when that's the way most of the traffic flows, but in an evening.... well let's just say that the 3.5 queue mile running through the town last night demonstrated how well that worked.
Drove past this morning and they were taking down the sign at the Total garage in Stourport; drove past again and it's now an Esso.
If I got this right the independent at Dunley is now a Total; the Total in Stourport is now an Esso; the Esso that was next to the Shell is now a block of retirement apartments and the Shell is still a Shell. Shell that was next to the Esso in Vale Road is now a block of retirement apartments and the Esso in Vale Road is still there. So two Essos in Stourport. Wheeee!
All in all ready for the Tesco and its petrol station... whenever any of that's going to arrive
Once again it sesms our County Highways department are provided only the vaguest of information regarding road closures. Earlier this month traffic was being turned away from Hartlebury Road by a "Road Ahead Closed" sign despite the fact that it was quite possible to continue up to at least Millfields Drive and Wilden Lane.
They did eventually put up a sign about a shop way further up still being open, but I bet those on Wilden Lane weren't exactly chuffed.
Now it's the turn of the A4025 upon which a sign has appeared once again stating that the road ahead will be closed from the 10 April for 6 days. So again at what point will it be closed? Will it be possible to reach the Common, Cook's Garden Centre, Sandy Lane Industrial Estate, Chadwick Bank etc.?
How many people heading to Cook's etc. will take the diversion and find themselves on the wrong side of the works?
I swear those setting these things out have no little to no comprehension of how people actually use the roads they're shutting down. Actually I've just confirmed that because as of this moment they don't know where the work is going to be carried out.
Awesome.
[Update - hah the sign has now been removed. Either it's been moved to a more appropriate place (but the entrance to a road with no major exits is the right place); they've cancelled the work; or they'll suddenly reappear with a more descriptive message]
[Update 2 - They've cancelled the work]
The road-works at Dunley Road in Stourport have switched back to three-way traffic lights; however it appears they're being properly manned this time. The joke in this instance is that the fact they're being manned means the redundancy of having three sets of lights. Allow me to explain.
Had a trip down to the river at the weekend, took some photos and thought to tweet them. Six times in various ways and they would not go through. Bang all went through this morning. So wither a glitch at their end; or a glitch at mine. I'll try again later in similar circumstances and see what happens this time.
Meanwhile:
Water pipe replacement work is being carried on in Stourport at the moment necessitating a set of controlled traffic lights to allow traffic through as these sit at a three-way junction it would seem logical to put up a set of three way traffic lights. Instead a set of two-way were placed at the junction itself; yesterday they were switched out for a three-way set and this morning back to a two-way. The question is why?
For the first time since the new bridge for Tesco opened we've had a confluence of events that resulted in traffic being commensurate with that which can be expected with a new housing development and a superstore.
If, in simplistic terms, one considers Stourport as a crossroads last night one 'arm' was closed and another slowed down by traffic lights leaving traffic building up through town and beyond. I decided to slip off down the new route and see how it would stand up. What I discovered was some major flaws in its layout
It's the single site again - our district council spending around £10m on new premises, in these economic times, in order to save £500k a year (savings which only seem to top renovation savings over a 25-year period). For some reason people are still whining about it despite the fact it's been built and now occupied; it's done, nothing more can be done, and it can't be undone so why can't they let it rest?
I don't know, perhaps it's because it appears the majority of the district didn't want it. Perhaps because despite having a town known world-over as a carpet manufacturer the site's carpet tiles came from a out of district supplier. Or perhaps it's because Mr Martin (Labour) claims the savings may only be £80k? (with a fuller 'letter' here).
Far too many conflicting whispers flitting about that Tesco are pulling out/have pulled out of building on the Carpets of Worth site; that building is all set to start in the middle of next year; the latest sliver to reach my ears is that a supermarket will be built, but it'll be a Morrisons instead.
My bet is that Tenbury will have their (far better positioned) Tesco before construction even starts in Stourport.
Ah good the plans for the new marina complex down on Sandy Lane has gone public. This is something I've known about in general for over two months now but I was asked not to comment until things firmed up. Nicely the information I have is a match for the information made public for the initial public consultation so I don't have to scan in my sheets.
They came on line sometime Friday afternoon and as of yesterday the uppermost red light has failed. In terms of usage they are definitely weighted towards the Mitton Road side. I sat at the Severn Road exit watching nothing driving up that side until finally they registered that fact just in time to stop the traffic.
So far I've driven through the main Mitton-side set 19 times and on all but two occasions they've either been red or switching from red with queues forming in the right-hand lane back to the Chinese takeaway. So not bad but that's with only the normal levels of traffic and without the addition of both a superstore and a new housing estate being added next year.
On the plus side the new bridge is indeed open and is a pleasant enough short-cut with the wait at the lights not being far too dissimilar to waiting at the island. Of course one has to sit in the queue to reach the turn-off in the first place and once this new route becomes established as an alternative no doubt queues will start to form up from here too. Likewise in theory this provides an alternative to Vale Road and the dreaded Gilgal, with the only downside being trying to get out of Discovery Road at the other end.
At some point on Friday afternoon the traffic lights at the junction of Severn Road and Mitton Street were switched on; about time to. Now we can all get an idea of how much of a problem this is causing without the added traffic from a housing estate and a supermarket.
I will say the change from amber to red seems far too quick given their positions. I approached the corner on green, started to turn it on amber and came to a halt on red. In this case the red light was to allow a vehicle out from Severn Road... except they weren't exiting they were parked outside a house. I can see that being a problem.
On the other hand in a spot of good news the lights that block Mitton Street and the lights that block the entrance to Severn Road seem to be linked so their hopefully won't be a case when the lights on Mitton are red and the lights to Severn are green; on the downside if they're also linked the other way it means all of Mitton being blocked when someone wants to cross Severn Road. If they're not linked in that way it'll block off the left-hand side of Mitton should someone be wanting to turn.
Well now they're up and running we'll see how they fare.
Heated exchanges at the Shuttle over the revelation that the council is making a profit of £429,875 on its car-parks and the excuse given as to why it needs to make a profit:
The surplus made from car parking is used to help deliver services. To not make a surplus, would mean services elsewhere would have to be cut.Normally I wouldn't have a problem with that as this is pretty much how government works, however given the slow growth and recession we've had price-increases and an entire car-park that was formerly free being made pay-and-display. As a result this smacks to me of raising prices on one service simply to fund other services. That's where I have a problem.
Writing about the never-ending works that seem to be bodging up our town in the name of Tesco the totally complete and utterly finished link that by-passes the OGL/Chain Wyre island still isn't open. Nor the lights at the mouth of Severn Road that's supposed to control it.
Of course if the lights were currently operational it would be a wonderful display of just how truly $#!%^*%-up everything could get if someone were to, say, shut-down part of the road network by blocking an exit.
As an aside due to everything being in place the current Stop marker at the exit of Severn Road is supposedly acting as a Give Way; however due to its placement the only way traffic can see if they don't have to Give Way is to not Give Way drive over it and stop at the point where the original Give Way markings used to be.
Yes I knew about the prohibition on turning right from Mitton Street into Vale Road, it just completely slipped my mind until I got caught up in all the damn traffic. Big surprise diverting a big chunk of traffic directly through the town causes problems.
I could point out that this is the first time they've done so since they've unofficially confirmed York Street into a single lane by creating a parking bay opposite all the other parking bays, but given everyone ignored the restrictions anyway that's made no difference.
I could get annoyed that despite closing down the right-hand lane into which the traffic from Gilgal flows traffic from Worcester Road is still stopping to let them cross the lanes; particularly as I've noted that more and more traffic aren't stopping any more; although they are obviously slowing down due to the the speeding traffic and the truly stupid tight turn imposed on them.
I could scratch my head over the "yet another set of Tesco roadworks" given that this set of lights have been operational for several months now and I have no idea why they'd need to dig up the road again.
But I won't do that ;-) However yesterday we did have a clear "Seriously?" moment.
As mentioned they've shut down the right-hand lane of Mitton Street to stop the idiots charging up round the corner and slamming to a halt. So all traffic proceeds along the left-hand lane... except yesterday. Yesterday everyone was channelled into the left-hand lane as expected until they rounded the corner at which point they were all channelled into the right-hand lane and then back into the left. Why? Because they'd parked a construction vehicle on the left.
Now this wasn't a case of parking it there so they could access the traffic lights on that side of the road further from where they were working because the cones didn't extend far enough to allow it to drive against the flow. At some point someone would have to stop the traffic to let it out. So why not park it on the right and still stop the traffic to let it across? I'm guessing because it was working on the left and that's SOP.
But still seriously?
I dealt with the puff-piece from the Conservatives regarding their candidate for the post of Police Commissioner for the West Midlands last week; they did a second piece which astonishingly was almost manifesto-like in that a promise was made that
a priority will be to make it easier and less intimidating for victims – especially women – to report [domestic violence and abuse] incidents to the Policepresumably by signing up to Victim Support's "Five Promises to/for Victims and Witnesses". Of course that doesn't mean anything will get done, but if it doesn't we have the ability to call him out on it.
I don't know what's going on with the B4025 Worcester Road running out of Stourport but as you approach the Sandy Lane Industrial Estate turn off all the cat's eyes embedded in the road surface seem to have raised up. They're not newly fitted ones as the metal surrounds are rusted, but they're all sitting proud of the road by about an inch with right-angled metal brackets.
Turn off and it's like driving over cobbles.
Via their contact form:
To Whom it may concern.I'm just getting fed-up of the buses charging down from either Minster Road or Gilgal ans sweeping straight into the other lane as if they had right-of way. Hell I'm fed-up of all the traffic sweeping down as if they had right of way, but bus-drivers should have had better training.
Could you please remind those drivers who pass through Stourport that both Gilgal and Mitton Street are filter and merge systems and as such the multiple entrances to either have no Give Way signs.
To that end your vehicles travelling from Minster Road into Gilgal only have right of way in the left-hand lane; and from Gilgal to Mitton Street in the right-hand lane. Should other traffic from Vale Road or Worcester Road respectively be attempting to use the other lane they have right-of way within that lane.
If your vehicles cannot enter without encroaching on the other side it is they who should be stopping not the other vehicle.
