Minutes of the meeting of Rothbury Parish Council
held on Wednesday 14th November 2007

Member's of the Public Present     
Anthea Wilbie Chalke wished to speak about the new junction layout, and apart from the poor design, is concerned about it not having a roundabout, and felt a cheaper option was now in place with the safety and needs of the Weldon Bridge road ignored. It was clear the design needed more thought, and the building contractor's did not see themselves responsible for reworking it, and surely their Civil Engineers should bear the responsibility for the reworking. Anthea therefore concerned taxpayers will be left to pay for the design failures. Coun. Sandford replied it was NCC planner's who approved the plan. Coun. Fendley said there were discussions at the consultative stage, and the question of a roundabout was not economically viable on the basis of anticipated return on the sale of properties. Coun. Reynalds said it had been the Parish Council's initial comments a roundabout was required. Coun. Gilson said Anthea’s basic problem was who is to pay for the 'foul up,' and in the past few PC meetings it had been stated it was NCC Highway Authority responsibility, the head of highways being the person who agreed the plan - however the plan was at fault, but the government system had allowed the layout to go ahead, therefore the tax payers will have to end up paying for it. Coun. Fendley's understanding after meeting with the developer was they have simply put into practice what was approved by NCC. Coun. Sandford said the initial pressure as a PC put on NCC regarding the junction plan was tremendous, and now suspected NCC could have been leant on by the developer.
Resident Guy Singleton present and wished to state the danger of the road junction for a heavy goods user such as himself, and said the road is not physically wide enough to take HGV's, and looking at the roundabout idea, the priority should have been with the Morpeth road There is a stay clear box but car users ignore it. Dick Frazer said Anthea's points are valid - the issue of why there is no roundabout he cannot answer as it was before his time and the engineer no longer works for NCC. However a roundabout would have problems and the approach would be very similar to present, at the time the arrangement was put together, NCC's policy had been to work with the developers and consulting engineers, but it was not for NCC to check every item proposed, however the proposals did cause some concern to NCC but they had been approved through the safety audit process and NCC did not have the power to design the set up themselves. According to the design engineers the junction should have been adequate for turning circles, and the results of the safety audit were accepted. With regard to the overall layout, there are issues, a fundamental one being the difficult turning area which is largely governed by site constraints, NCC did agree it should be widened and purchased additional land for the widening, but Dick agreed there are still issues. On the issue of costs, they are all being met by the developer. There is work still to do to the approach, there has to be a drainage connection created, and the gas main needs diverting - NCC are trying to negotiate access into the same trench as British Gas. Dick has visited the site and discussed issues with the Business Club, however it is very difficult to see any major realignment of the road taking place. Coun. Fendley said it was agreed the mark one version of the junction was a total disaster, and it seems mark 2 is not much better and can there not be a mark 3 taking on board comments regarding the extremely sharp right turn whatever you are driving. Dick said the site had been stripped behind the wall, but the wall is retaining the road, and without considerable expenditure it would be extremely difficult to widen, and would require a whole new retaining wall and difficulties for access to the cottages. If there had been vegetation it could have been feasible but with the amount of earth it is too much to deal with. Coun. Edes said it will be terribly dangerous in winter when making the sharp turn, Dick replied there is ongoing discussion for anti skid treatments to be extended. Coun. Murray has voiced objections since day one of the development plans, and thought the problem was the priority being changed and another option would be to put 3 way traffic lights on permanently. Coun. Dawson said it was all thrashed out 7 years ago, Dick has explained the reasons behind it, and now it has to be moved on - whatever the priority road is, it has been approved, the road is not right, all have to accept this and find out what can be done to improve it. Coun. Gilson asked if NCC/developers had looked into the fact larger HGV's are now in use, and was the whole infrastructure investigated. Dick replied all vehicles have the right to be on the road unless weight restrictions are in place. Coun. Gilson said it appears lessons are not being learnt, and surely somebody has to accept responsibility. Dick keen for NCC to design all roads, but this is not possible, and NCC has no power to force this possibility at present. Coun. Gilson wished to put in the minutes the PC appreciated Dick's involvement in this issue. Coun. Sandford said despite the legal predicament, under the present system it did not stop the NCC's officer of the Highway's Division saying it was unacceptable. Dick said the original plan did raise some concerns, but the safety audit came back up to scratch from the consultant. Coun. Edes said it is a pity an urban design is on the edge of a conservation area, Dick took this point on board and agreed the bollards and lighting give an urban feel, and summed up the current staggered arrangements require a more acceptable right turn and NCC are to see if it can be improved.

Parking
Coun. Reynalds said parking schemes have been looked at over the years, and limited waiting in the centre would ease problems. Coun. Fendley asked Dick if he was aware of the Ove Arup report carried out in 2002 regarding parking in Rothbury, Dick said it would be on record at NCC. Coun. Sandford said the last plan up for discussion has suffered through not being taken forward. Coun. Fendley said he had thought the haugh parking charges would only be implemented when improvements to parking in the village centre were put in place, but this had not happened. Coun. Dawson replied it was the enforcement issue the police were not happy about, and Rothbury does not have any regulations other than yellow lines. A scheme within the centre was proposed for limited parking and a survey by NCC circulated to affected households, however the majority of returns did not wish to see a scheme implemented. Coun. Edes commented if white lines were put down as proper spaces in specific areas it would create extra parking areas. Coun. Gilson interested in the comments 'something must be done,' and asked why is this so, are there statistics of accidents etc, and on his personal experience, on only once occasion has he had to go twice around the village to find a parking place, yes it is a bit of a mess, but personally he cannot see any major problems. Coun Reynalds replied most of the residents have found major problems, Coun. Edes said there are people taking places up for the whole day going away walking etc. and to her knowledge problems have occurred for 25 years, Coun Mrs Morton pointed out the War Memorial keeps getting hit through vehicles parking where they should not be. Coun. Bolam said ADC have not allowed for an all day parking charge at the Haugh which has compounded problems, and if coming to spend all day you cannot park there, and Coun. Bolam has spoken to P Gee ADC and drawn his attention to this. Coun. Murray said Haugh all day parking would be beneficial, and could disc parking tickets not be used for shoppers. Dick said a scheme was proposed, and his understanding was it fell at consultation stage, he has looked at the proposals and noted some restrictions have been introduced, ego Yellow lines, but the difficulty is when parking is regulated and bays marked off, as then it is immediately bound by highway rules/issues, which is one of the reasons why parking is only shown on one side of the road on the plan. Pay and display and resident parking schemes had been introduced in Corbridge, and would be worth thinking about - they put together a working group with two public consultations. As an interim stage Dick would seek to set aside finance to pay for officer time to take ideas forward. Civil enforcement will come back to NCC to administer, which is a massive process to put in order - at least two years. Two hour limited could be an interim solution, eg between 8-6pm. Coun. Dawson wished to thank Dick for these comments saying he was the first NCC officer who has been positive about parking and working with the PC, and actually agreed something has to be done. Coun. Reynalds thanked Dick for his time.