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Berkhamsted
High St/Water Lane redevelopment
Greene Field Road
The width from the fence along
the river to
the Collegiate School fence is 8.6m. Even with only one footpath of 2m
this leaves 6.6m for the two way carriage way which is not adequate for
a road with HGV traffic delivering to shops, restaurants and an
increased supermarket. There is the added problem of the right angled
bend.
The junction with Lower Kings Road is
already
inadequate. The sight lines to the right are well within the
guidelines but to the left it is not possible to see oncoming traffic
without encroaching well into the carriageway. Disproportionately few
drivers try to turn right here, preferring to use Mill Street which may
account for the lack of accidents. This junction does not
meet
any of the criteria even for its present use and considerable work
would be needed to bring it up to standard for a two way road with HGVs.
This narrow road and dangerous junction
can be
compared with the service road and junction which were deemed necessary
for the Waitrose development on the west side of Lower Kings Road. The
type and amount of traffic generated is certainly no greater than from
Greene Field Road but comparison of the Waitrose layout with Greene
Field Road and its junction shows very clearly how substandard Greene
Field Road is and how much land would be needed for
improvement.
In spite of a very informative talk from
Graham
Winwright to the Berkhamsted Annual Town meeting in March this year and
in spite of asking for specific information from James Whittaker at the
consultation in the Berkhamsted Town Hall in August, it has been
impossible to get any hard information about how it is
intended
to bring this road and junction up to the required standard.
The
Berkhamsted Town Council was assured by Graham Winwright at the Annual
Town Meeting that nothing would be done which would harm the
River Bulbourne, which is the concern of the Town Council’s
River
Bulbourne restoration Partnership. The only other land alongside the
road is part of the Collegiate Schools newly refurbished tennis courts.
We are asked to take the details on trust. We refer you to
the
Concept Statement where the only comments on Greene Field Road are; p.6
2.11 Widen Greene Field Road, p.8 in the grey box ;improvements to the
adjoining Highway network MAY be needed especially the Greene Field
Road/Lower Kings Road Junction.
It is our view that without satisfactory
access the whole scheme falls.
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Greene Field Road at 4pm
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