Your Parish Council Urgently Requires Your Input
The Parish Council has, for over a decade, been attempting to arrange for a review of speed limits and other road safety issues within the parish. In order to commence this activity, the council needs to obtain a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO). Unfortunately, as only a limited number of TROs are progressed each year, the list of requests is the subject of a prioritisation exercise carried out by Herefordshire Council and / or it’s contractor on an annual basis. The TRO request for Goodrich and Welsh Bicknor road safety has yet to be prioritised to a level that facilitates it being progressed.
In an attempt to deal with the specific issue of dangerous parking around the parish, the parish council has been advised to produce a new TRO request dealing with this issue alone, and to this end we are seeking your views.
New TROs are likely to cost in the region of £4,000 – per TRO. If funded by the county council, the timescale is advised as being “at least 2 years”, if funded by the parish council, the timescale is advised as being “maximum of 3 months”.
The parish council has recently received this response to their request for existing double yellow lines to be repainted: “Please note to manage your expectations, double yellow lines are a lower priority than other lining and an Early Warning has been sent to HC with reference to budgetary constraints regarding lining and the only lining currently taking place is to refresh markings at accident sites.” What this means, in practice, is that it is extremely unlikely that any remedial actions relating to parking will be progressed unless they are funded by the parish council – you, the residents of the parish. The Parish Council considers this to be fundamentally wrong and is liaising with the Ward Councillor in this regard, but in the meantime, it may be necessary to take a pragmatic approach.
An increase of £4,000 on the Precept would result in an increase of council tax of approximately £15.00 per property (please note that the actual increase will depend on property value and personal circumstances and could be more than this)
The parish council is now in the process of finalising the budget for the coming year, and deciding what the parish Precept should be. The Precept has remained unchanged since 2017/18.
The parish council would like you to answer the following questions:
- Do you consider that there are areas within the parish where parking adversely effects the safety of residents and visitors?
- Do you support the parish council in requesting a review of parking within the parish via the TRO procedure?
- Would you be content for the Precept to be increased in order to fund the progression of a TRO request in the coming and / or future year(s)?
Please email your answers to the clerk, or use the contact form on the website, by Tuesday 30th November 2021.
Please provide your answers in a simple YES / NO format, and if you have anything further to add, please do this separately, after the answers to the three questions.
Thank you for your valued opinion.
Miss A Jones
Clerk to Goodrich & Welsh Bicknor Group Parish Council