I moved to Church End with my family in August 2013. I very soon became concerned about the traffic that passes through Church End, particularly at week-day peak times. I was also concerned about the speed with which traffic negotiated the bend at the meeting of Church End and Rosemary Lane.
I believe one of the issues is that traffic commuting in and out of Cambridge is using Church End and Rosemary Lane to bypass the traffic lights on the junction of Coldhams Lane and High Street.
I recently contacted Sandra Crawford, councillor for Cherry Hinton. She arranged a site visit with a representative from the Council’s highways department. It was observed that there was an issue and that the best course of action would be to reduce the volume of traffic. The best solution offered was to introduce some pinch points in order to make Church End a less attractive short-cut.
However, it was also suggested that some support would be required to press the case for action by the Council. I have therefore set up an online petition at the following address.
Please add your name by way of support and also add any comments.
Email [email protected]
Updates
June 2, 2014
I am honestly a bit overwhelmed by how many of you stepped up to back this. This momentum belongs entirely to the neighborhood and I am just so grateful to be moving forward alongside you.
17 Comments
I think the only solution is to permanently barrier the road at the dangerous blind corner. Residents can access their homes and it will be an effective deterrent to the lunatics that bomb up the road to save a few seconds on their journey. Lets join together to make Church End a safe and happy environment to live in and not a 'rat-run'. I cycle along the road everyday and feel it's a risky exercise as cars zoom past me at crazy speeds. Its like running the gauntlet. This is not how a mainly residential road should be. Safety measures need to be implemented to avoid unnecessary accidents.
I moved to Church End last year in the Neath Farm Court Development. The residents of NFC have had numerous conversations with the council, councillors, highway authority, our MP and even highlighted the problem in the local paper. The police were asking for us to help with a traffic awareness campaign but never got back in contact with us. We are concerned about not being able to get out of NFC due to parked cars and the speed at which people drive down the road. Perhaps we need a residents meeting to join forces and come up with an action plan?
We have been living on Church End for almost 8 years. There has always been a traffic problem with speeding cars though we notice it more now because we have small children. Reducing the speed limit to 20 mph will have no effect whatsoever because the speeding cars do not adhere to the current 30 mph limit and often hurtle past our house at close to 50 mph (we are on the straight bit opposite the green after the shop). When I turn off Coldhams Lane into the Rosemary Lane end I am closely followed by cars/vans wanting to go faster and when slowing down to turn off into our drive (on the right!) I have even been dangerously overtaken by drivers unable to wait. We get very frustrated by the speed at which drivers feel it is reasonable to reach on our road. Quite often there are numerous cars parked alongside St Andrews Church (for a meeting, wedding or funeral) and it is extremely difficult to get past these from the High Street end now at peak times because the volume of traffic coming the other way is relentless and it is impossible to see whether the road is clear or not before starting to pull out. I am in favour of traffic calming measures (the pinch points, speed bumps, a speed camera) and think I would prefer these to closing off the road.
Ollie - I couldn't agree with you more. Blocking the road will cause some of us a slightly longer commute (if we use Coldhams Lane) but in the end it will be a lot safer for everyone, even if it means an extra 5 minutes at the traffic lights on High Street/Coldhams Lane junction.
Hi Jim, My neighbours who are in houses from Neath Farm Court that face the road have received the petition. I believe there is a Facebook page for the residents so it would be a good idea to circulate this there (if not already). We do need as many signatures as possible!
I am disappointed that no letters or potions were delivered to Neath Farm Court presumably it is felt that our support is either not wanted or needed. Not very inclusive.
I am so very pleased to see this taking place and thank you Steve for getting this started following our meeting last month: I have had so many meetings with county officers and Police about this over many years (long before becoming a Cllr) that every time they see me they dive into the nearest doorway! I did indeed suggest many years ago that the road was simply cut in two - cheap and self-policing; but most residents at the time did not want this but perhaps things have changed now so I brought it up again a few months ago. We have a meeting on 26th June at County Council to learn the outcome of a list of funding bids - one of which I placed on the list for Church End traffic - if that was a succsess then we may at long last have some cash to work with: If so, the question is - what do we want? pleasing everyone will be difficult. Ollie makes some good points, and I fear he is correct - traffic lights at Colhamd Lane are going no-where I'm afraid. I did speak to highways before Neath Farm was built and told them because of the bend - sightlines are very poor there and a mini roundabout would at least help the traffic flow of that development and on the road itself - but I was told by them 'it was not a requirment' - and that was that; I could drum up no further interest about it from them - but to me it was obvious it would be a problem. Lets keep at it - get as many ideas as possible and with the help of enough residents (a lone Cllr is just that!) just maybe we can together get somewhere. Thank you again Steve for getting this started.
Sign Petition
We never post to your account. Social sign-in is used only to verify your signature.
Add a comment?
Your signature will be added via . Tell others why you're signing — it's optional.
By signing, you accept iPetitions Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Copy link or share directly
I moved to Church End with my family in August 2013. I very soon became concerned about the traffic that passes through Church End, particularly at week-day peak times. I was also concerned about the speed with which traffic negotiated the bend at the meeting of Church End and Rosemary Lane.
I believe one of the issues is that traffic commuting in and out of Cambridge is using Church End and Rosemary Lane to bypass the traffic lights on the junction of Coldhams Lane and High Street.
I recently contacted Sandra Crawford, councillor for Cherry Hinton. She arranged a site visit with a representative from the Council’s highways department. It was observed that there was an issue and that the best course of action would be to reduce the volume of traffic. The best solution offered was to introduce some pinch points in order to make Church End a less attractive short-cut.
However, it was also suggested that some support would be required to press the case for action by the Council. I have therefore set up an online petition at the following address.
Please add your name by way of support and also add any comments.
Email [email protected]
Updates
June 2, 2014
I am honestly a bit overwhelmed by how many of you stepped up to back this. This momentum belongs entirely to the neighborhood and I am just so grateful to be moving forward alongside you.
17 Comments
I don't think we will able to stop vehicles using Church end as a rat-run, so we should look at making it safer. One of the worst places along the road seems to be at the junction with Neath Farm Court. When the estate was being completed the contractors initially built several car parking spaces on the immediate right hand side of the entrance, but these were suddenly over planted with trees and some grass, leaving the new occupants no choice but to use the road for parking, which makes the blind bend even worse. I think a mini-roundabout positioned outside the entrance would help a lot, also slowing cars at a point where there are young children playing.
I think the only solution is to permanently barrier the road at the dangerous blind corner. Residents can access their homes and it will be an effective deterrent to the lunatics that bomb up the road to save a few seconds on their journey. Lets join together to make Church End a safe and happy environment to live in and not a 'rat-run'. I cycle along the road everyday and feel it's a risky exercise as cars zoom past me at crazy speeds. Its like running the gauntlet. This is not how a mainly residential road should be. Safety measures need to be implemented to avoid unnecessary accidents.
I moved to Church End last year in the Neath Farm Court Development. The residents of NFC have had numerous conversations with the council, councillors, highway authority, our MP and even highlighted the problem in the local paper. The police were asking for us to help with a traffic awareness campaign but never got back in contact with us. We are concerned about not being able to get out of NFC due to parked cars and the speed at which people drive down the road. Perhaps we need a residents meeting to join forces and come up with an action plan?
We have been living on Church End for almost 8 years. There has always been a traffic problem with speeding cars though we notice it more now because we have small children. Reducing the speed limit to 20 mph will have no effect whatsoever because the speeding cars do not adhere to the current 30 mph limit and often hurtle past our house at close to 50 mph (we are on the straight bit opposite the green after the shop). When I turn off Coldhams Lane into the Rosemary Lane end I am closely followed by cars/vans wanting to go faster and when slowing down to turn off into our drive (on the right!) I have even been dangerously overtaken by drivers unable to wait. We get very frustrated by the speed at which drivers feel it is reasonable to reach on our road. Quite often there are numerous cars parked alongside St Andrews Church (for a meeting, wedding or funeral) and it is extremely difficult to get past these from the High Street end now at peak times because the volume of traffic coming the other way is relentless and it is impossible to see whether the road is clear or not before starting to pull out. I am in favour of traffic calming measures (the pinch points, speed bumps, a speed camera) and think I would prefer these to closing off the road.
Ollie - I couldn't agree with you more. Blocking the road will cause some of us a slightly longer commute (if we use Coldhams Lane) but in the end it will be a lot safer for everyone, even if it means an extra 5 minutes at the traffic lights on High Street/Coldhams Lane junction.
Hi Jim, My neighbours who are in houses from Neath Farm Court that face the road have received the petition. I believe there is a Facebook page for the residents so it would be a good idea to circulate this there (if not already). We do need as many signatures as possible!
I am disappointed that no letters or potions were delivered to Neath Farm Court presumably it is felt that our support is either not wanted or needed. Not very inclusive.
I am so very pleased to see this taking place and thank you Steve for getting this started following our meeting last month: I have had so many meetings with county officers and Police about this over many years (long before becoming a Cllr) that every time they see me they dive into the nearest doorway! I did indeed suggest many years ago that the road was simply cut in two - cheap and self-policing; but most residents at the time did not want this but perhaps things have changed now so I brought it up again a few months ago. We have a meeting on 26th June at County Council to learn the outcome of a list of funding bids - one of which I placed on the list for Church End traffic - if that was a succsess then we may at long last have some cash to work with: If so, the question is - what do we want? pleasing everyone will be difficult. Ollie makes some good points, and I fear he is correct - traffic lights at Colhamd Lane are going no-where I'm afraid. I did speak to highways before Neath Farm was built and told them because of the bend - sightlines are very poor there and a mini roundabout would at least help the traffic flow of that development and on the road itself - but I was told by them 'it was not a requirment' - and that was that; I could drum up no further interest about it from them - but to me it was obvious it would be a problem. Lets keep at it - get as many ideas as possible and with the help of enough residents (a lone Cllr is just that!) just maybe we can together get somewhere. Thank you again Steve for getting this started.
Help this petition grow
Share it with friends to help reach 50 signatures.
Sign Petition
We never post to your account. Social sign-in is used only to verify your signature.
Add a comment?
Your signature will be added via .
Tell others why you're signing — it's optional.
Signing with Google or Facebook verifies your signature instantly — no email needed.
By signing, you accept iPetitions Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Share Petition
Don't stop at signing, share the petition link with friends to multiply our impact
Petitions like this
Other petitions you might want to support
Scan to share
Anyone who scans this can sign the petition.
I don't think we will able to stop vehicles using Church end as a rat-run, so we should look at making it safer. One of the worst places along the road seems to be at the junction with Neath Farm Court. When the estate was being completed the contractors initially built several car parking spaces on the immediate right hand side of the entrance, but these were suddenly over planted with trees and some grass, leaving the new occupants no choice but to use the road for parking, which makes the blind bend even worse. I think a mini-roundabout positioned outside the entrance would help a lot, also slowing cars at a point where there are young children playing.