SPEED HUMPS 2

Over a thousand people living in Stanhope Street, Upperdale Road and the Austin Estate in Normanton, have asked the city council to reconsider the removal of speed humps. Traffic-calming was introduced to the Austin estate in 1994, and Stanhope Street and Upperdale Road in 2000. Residents organised a petition asking for traffic-calming measures to be taken down and claimed the speed humps were dangerous and were damaging cars.

David Gartside, council head of traffic, said, "We don't want to dismiss people's concerns and we understand the traffic-calming measures are too severe in some places. But if we were to remove all the humps we would have to put something in their place and the removal of them would cost around £100,000 alone. I cannot really recommend that we follow through with the request."

Normanton councillor Hardyal Dhindsa urged the council to reconsider. He said, "The petition was signed by people in the area who have experienced the damage the humps can do. The council need to reconsider and remove the road humps and replace them with more appropriate traffic-calming measures." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Jun/06)

Despite widespread public consultation in Boulton last year, Derby City Council is proposing to ask residents for the third time in two years whether they want to get rid of the humps. The move has been slammed by campaigners as a waste of money and Independent Ron Allen has said that he will withdraw his support of the Lib Dem/Tory alliance if the humps are not removed. But now the city council is proposing to spend another £3,000 on the issue by asking people if they want the humps removed. In 2001, there was a £10,000 independent review into the effectiveness of the traffic calming measures. Last year, questionnaires were sent out to 7,000 residents and as a result it was agreed to remove some humps, modify others and consider other traffic calming measures.

Forty-eight humps have been removed and 12 modified at a cost of £60,000 and 86 speed humps remain. Since the May elections - when Labour lost overall control of the city council - no work has been carried out and it is estimated it would cost £75,000 to finish what was planned by the former Labour-run council. But the Lib Dem/Tory alliance is suggesting that the public should be consulted again because the questionnaire that was sent out before was not clear enough. Lucy Care, cabinet member for planning, transportation and environment, said that the previous questionnaire sent out to residents was not clear enough and that the decision by the city council in February was taken before Mr Allen, who stood on the single issue of removing speed humps, was re-elected.

She said the election result may have shown that people wanted to get rid of the humps, but it was not conclusive. She said, "I think the conclusions that were reached from the last consultation were reasonable, but there was not a clear question that said 'do you want the speed humps to go?' and by consulting again we can ask clear cut, concise questions. I think it would be foolish to spend £75,000 on something that has been approved as it doesn't seem to be clear cut." Before the Lib Dem/Tory alliance came into power Maurice Burgess, now leader of the city council, said the humps would be removed as soon as possible.

Now he says, "We have got to be able to justify the removal of the humps. We hope, if the public want it, that the humps will be gone during the autumn." Mr Allen said, "If they consult again it is an absolute waste of time and money. I have been assured by the cabinet the speed humps are coming out and if they don't then I would withdraw my support for the alliance." Thelma Bradshaw, secretary of the Community Road Users' Independent Steering Executive (Cruise), said, "I think it is a waste of money. The people have made it clear what they want."

Chris Williamson, leader of the Labour group, said, "This is a waste of public money. It's not a large amount of money, but it is the principle of it. The people have made it quite clear what they want both through the consultation and the ballot box." Philip Hickson, leader of the city Conservative group and deputy leader of the city council, said, "Our commitment is the same as it was before the election - the speed humps in Boulton must be removed and we're moving towards that, taking the appropriate measures which are required legally. In the view of officers, the previous consultation was defective, so we need to make sure that we get it right. The purpose of this consultation is to make sure that we're on track with what people actually want."

This is the latest chapter in the long-running saga that began in 2000 when the Labour-run city council installed speed humps in Boulton and Sinfin costing £236,000. A residents group - Community Road Users' Independent Steering Executive - was set up and Labour lost a seat on the city council in May, 2002, when Hardyal Dhindsa was ousted in favour of Ron Allen, who stood on the single-issue of speed humps and also retained his seat in this year's elections. The review in late 2002, when 7,000 questionnaires were sent out, proved controversial after the council was forced to print an extra 6,000 re-drafted copies following complaints over the wording of the questions.

There were 2,306 replies with 75% of people saying they wanted some form of traffic calming and 59 % of people wanting the speed humps removed. In February, the city council said it would remove and modify the humps. The situation at the moment is that all the humps have been removed in Grampian Way and the humps in Boulton Lane, between its junction with Crayford Road and Harvey Road, have been removed. The speed humps in Holbrook Road, between its junction with Bembridge Drive and Field Lane, have been lowered and modified and selected other humps have been removed.

The total cost of the speed humps issue in Boulton is around £427,400. £236,000 to install 146 humps in Sinfin and Boulton in 2000, £60,000 to remove 48 humps and modify 12 in April as well as £6,400 on three questionnaires. Philip Hickson, deputy leader of the council, said, "We're acting on a commitment that we made before the election that we'll remove the humps if that is what people want. If the cabinet agrees, we would hope the humps would be removed by the end of the year." If the cabinet agrees? How many more times do they need to be told?

Members of Derby City Council's cabinet agreed to go ahead with taking out the remaining 86 humps. About 5,000 questionnaires were sent out to residents in the Boulton ward and there was a total of 1,527 replies. Of those, 74% said they wanted the humps to be removed. Conservative deputy leader Philip Hickson said, "In my view, this was a huge waste of public money, which I put down to the Labour administration. They ploughed ahead with what they thought was best without proper consultation, but this report should serve as a lesson that we, as councillors, don't know best and that we need to consult. Hopefully, this will now restore the confidence of the public." We shall see.

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