HOME ZONE 2

The country's first project was in Manchester. The first phase was completed in April, 2001. Since then, surveys have shown that redesigned roads have reduced the speed of cars by 9mph. The Manchester scheme is also being carried out in three stages. The second is due to be completed in the next few weeks. The Normanton scheme is one of 61 that received Government cash last year.

Residents in a Derby street are celebrating after successfully campaigning against a safety scheme designed to slow down traffic. Letters have been sent out to people living in Sutherland Road, Normanton, from Derby City Council stating that plans to create a Home Zone project have been scrapped. The scheme would have seen pavements flattened down and irregular diagonal parking spaces painted in rows at either side of the road to narrow the road and deter speeders. Residents feared the new parking spaces would be a fire risk to homes, as cars would be parked much closer to properties than they are now. If a stolen car was torched in one of the new parking bays the results could be catastrophic, the campaigners claimed.

A group opposed to the scheme was formed, called Save Our Sutherland (SOS), and representatives handed a 115-signature petition to the council. Ron Harrison, of Sutherland Road, is chairman of SOS said, "We've been successful in our campaign and it's now been closed. I received a letter from the council that said that in light of our petition and the representation that we made Sutherland Road would be excluded from the scheme. Everyone's dead pleased. There's been some sleepless nights because the scheme would've caused a fire hazard." Another resident said, "I'm over the moon because it's been scrapped and now I'm at ease. I'm very grateful to Mr Harrison for fighting for it."

The council was granted £1m from the Government for the Home Zone scheme in January 2002. Phase one includes spending £750,000 on the unusual parking bays in Havelock Road and Cameron Road. Work will start towards the end of April 2004. Apart from Sutherland Road, Randolph Road is also included in phase two and consultation will begin with residents in April. Phase three includes Sackville Street, Brunswick Street, Duncan Road and Lawrence Street and consultation has not started yet. A spokeswoman for the council, said, "Sutherland Road will not be included in the scheme. The idea behind Home Zone is that it will only get the go-ahead if it's what residents want."

Work started on Cameron Road, Normanton, in June 2004, but 16 months later part of the road has still not been resurfaced, and cones and boards remain in place to indicate that work is continuing. People living in the roads say the work has taken too long to complete. Keith Payne, of Cameron Road, said a sign had gone up before work started which said it would take 13 weeks and Jenny Stevenson said, "I've been fed up with this for over a year. The council said it was because they were building the new flats, but they've been finished for weeks."

Martin Gadsby, the city council's private sector housing manager, said the construction of the flats had put the Home Zone programme in Cameron Road "out of kilter". He said, "We couldn't complete the road surfacing on the scheme while the flats were being built because we didn't want heavy plant machinery to destroy the Home Zone and because new services had to be put in under the road for the flats. But now the building work has finished, the contractors should be able to go on site to do the last bits of the Home Zone. It will hopefully take three to four weeks." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

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