I was at a meeting today to discuss what could be done about the unauthorized traffic using New market street on Market days, especially on Saturdays. This meeting had been set up following me bringing up the issue in a council meeting a few weeks ago, and had been arranged by our local police.
They had brought together the market manageress,
an SLDC bloke responsible for parking restrictions,
the police traffic enforcement officer,
James Airey, town and County councillor,
Jamie Sampson, Ulverston SLDC councillor,
Pat Jones, UTC present mayor,
Jim Prosser, Conservative town councillor,
A County council highways officer,
A bloke I didn't quite catch his title,
another Ulverston police officer,
and me.
We were crammed into a very small meeting room in the newly refurbished Town hall, but I suppose it could have been called cosy, the window had to be left open to allow some air into the room, but it also spilled a lot of traffic noise into the debate.
All of us agreed that something must be done, which of course was blatantly obvious otherwise we wouldn't be there, however as the meeting got into full swing it became obvious that there was not going to be an easy fix.
The main stumbling blocks are these; according to the polices' traffic officer the sign at the entrance to New market street in too ambiguous. Well perhaps not ambiguous but it has so many exemptions to who can and can't use the street on market days. Seemingly this makes the identification of unlawful users difficult for the police. Now this is really down to the fact that we don't have the police resources to deploy all day on market days. I suppose it may take at least three officers to cover New Market street, Market St and say Tank Square. All on radios and keeping a constant record of all the vehicles using that route, and what their movements have been. I can concede that this would seem a cumbersome use of Police time.
The exemption problem is basically down to the signs at the top of New market street, although it seems pretty plain to me, but once you get things explained by the Police traffic guy it becomes obvious that we need a new sign. Of course, as is the way of these things, getting a new sign is not going to be a quick fix.
It would have to go through numerous hoops, agencies and committees before some bloke could be fixing the new sign to the poles; maybe 12 months or more. In that time people could get knocked down, but that,s the way a bureaucratic fix would work. And in the end this probably will become part of the solution.
One solution offered was to move the Saturday market into Market Place only, thats the bit from the market cross to the junction of New market street. This has some merit, I suppose, and as a short term fix could help but there would be opposition from some traders, we were told, and also, as one of us said, this would shrink the market when the towns ambitions would be to grow the markets hopefully in the future.
Rejigging the one way system to allow cars to go down Cross st and Brogden street was agreed to be a good possibility but; this would involve lots of hoops, agencies and committees, another long haul.
A barrier, although used in lots of other towns, also wasn't a quick fix and one fraught with health and safety problems. Emergency access etc. etc.
Round and round we went forever becoming entangled in byelaws and regulations that conspired to thwart our good intentions.
In the end we arrived at a couple of courses of actions which we would take.
They had brought together the market manageress,
an SLDC bloke responsible for parking restrictions,
the police traffic enforcement officer,
James Airey, town and County councillor,
Jamie Sampson, Ulverston SLDC councillor,
Pat Jones, UTC present mayor,
Jim Prosser, Conservative town councillor,
A County council highways officer,
A bloke I didn't quite catch his title,
another Ulverston police officer,
and me.
We were crammed into a very small meeting room in the newly refurbished Town hall, but I suppose it could have been called cosy, the window had to be left open to allow some air into the room, but it also spilled a lot of traffic noise into the debate.
All of us agreed that something must be done, which of course was blatantly obvious otherwise we wouldn't be there, however as the meeting got into full swing it became obvious that there was not going to be an easy fix.
The main stumbling blocks are these; according to the polices' traffic officer the sign at the entrance to New market street in too ambiguous. Well perhaps not ambiguous but it has so many exemptions to who can and can't use the street on market days. Seemingly this makes the identification of unlawful users difficult for the police. Now this is really down to the fact that we don't have the police resources to deploy all day on market days. I suppose it may take at least three officers to cover New Market street, Market St and say Tank Square. All on radios and keeping a constant record of all the vehicles using that route, and what their movements have been. I can concede that this would seem a cumbersome use of Police time.
The exemption problem is basically down to the signs at the top of New market street, although it seems pretty plain to me, but once you get things explained by the Police traffic guy it becomes obvious that we need a new sign. Of course, as is the way of these things, getting a new sign is not going to be a quick fix.
It would have to go through numerous hoops, agencies and committees before some bloke could be fixing the new sign to the poles; maybe 12 months or more. In that time people could get knocked down, but that,s the way a bureaucratic fix would work. And in the end this probably will become part of the solution.
One solution offered was to move the Saturday market into Market Place only, thats the bit from the market cross to the junction of New market street. This has some merit, I suppose, and as a short term fix could help but there would be opposition from some traders, we were told, and also, as one of us said, this would shrink the market when the towns ambitions would be to grow the markets hopefully in the future.
Rejigging the one way system to allow cars to go down Cross st and Brogden street was agreed to be a good possibility but; this would involve lots of hoops, agencies and committees, another long haul.
A barrier, although used in lots of other towns, also wasn't a quick fix and one fraught with health and safety problems. Emergency access etc. etc.
Round and round we went forever becoming entangled in byelaws and regulations that conspired to thwart our good intentions.
In the end we arrived at a couple of courses of actions which we would take.
- The town council would have to decide what the future shape of the market should be. This would be put on the agenda for the next council meet, or the one after that, but as early as possible.
- The Police would mount an awarness campaign, on the streets and perhaps in the media, and await the outcome of the Councils reccomendations.
So it's the same old story when you come to try and fix what seems like a very simple problem. Common sense tells you it could be solved in a jiffy, but I'm afraid it's going to be a long and sticky walk through a treacle minefield until we can find a permanant solution.
I'm sorry that it will be this way, but you would have to have been at this exploritary meeting to understand how mind bogglingly difficult and frustrating it can be, making simple things happen. Lets just hope that it doesn't come to a nasty accident to shake us into making things happen a lot faster than they will.
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