Monday 16 November 2015
Media Enquiry from Open Lines Column, Guernsey Press:
Dear Sir
One cannot help but wonder if at times the States departments actually make decisions thinking they are right, or they make them without any thought going into it beforehand, or even if they are made just to annoy people, or even worse just to prove the point that they can - so they will do as they want.
For-instance, let's take some road closures. Is there any real need to close parking in roads that are one-way, like Candie Road, because there are road works in the area? Large vehicles like the fire engine and many others get down there every day with no problems, so surely the road does not get smaller if the volume of traffic increases. The road still remains one-way and vehicles still only take up half the road when driving down.
Also, what about the traffic lights in the Vale that have been there for years but have never been used? No one will give any reason why they have been put there. This is only a surmise on my part - but could it be that someone, somewhere, knows that eventually permission is going to be given for houses to be built on greenhouse/agricultural land and the land down there has been bought by someone in the know? Could these lights be there to help the flow of traffic that will be entering this road from a large housing estate? Could this be another behind closed doors decision that has been made already and long before it comes to any States meeting just for the satisfaction of the general public? Believe me, it is no good asking anyone in authority for any department or any States member if this is a possibility because they will categorically dismiss anything like this ever happens, but I think we all believe it does happen without a lot of proof it does not.
Environment Department Response:
Thank you for affording the Environment Department the opportunity to provide information on what factors influence the decisions such as those referred to by your correspondent.
When dealing with scheduled and emergency road closures the Department considers many factors including, as the reader alludes to, available routes for larger vehicles including buses.
In the case of Candie Road, along with roads such as Norman Terrace and York Avenue, parking is often suspended in order to provide alternative routes for scheduled bus services and other commercial vehicles that have been impacted by road works. There can be no doubt that closure in surrounding roads results in a larger volume of traffic in these neighbourhood roads including the diversion of many larger vehicles. Where space is limited this further slows down the flow of traffic and generates additional hazards including, for some larger vehicles, the necessity to mount pavements thus putting pedestrians at risk. By removing parking and providing larger vehicles with the space they need to negotiate narrower roads it ensures traffic can keep moving, larger vehicles do not need to mount the pavement and users are not exposed to unnecessary risk.
The detailed Policies under which roadwork applications are determined, coordinated and planned can be found at www.gov.gg/roadworkspolicy.
Contrary to your correspondent's suggestion, there is no secret agenda and the traffic signals along Route Militaire were installed by Guernsey Data Park Limited as part of the Planning conditions for its Guernsey Data Park application (FULL/2011/0874 and RES/2011/0873). The Decision Notice for this application is still available online at: http://planningexplorer.gov.gg/portal/.
These signals have now been adopted by the States. However, as development on the site has yet to commence, and there are no regular traffic movements from this site, the signals are not currently in operation.
Contact Information:
Karl Guille, Traffic and Transport Services Manager
Environment Department
Tel: 243400
