Enjoy it while you can
That was close!
Maybe it was an after effect of a weekend of good weather, or perhaps it was just a coincidence. Whatever the reasons, the walk to school today was rather nice. We’d reached a relatively clear part of the path when this lorry came past. I’m looking forward to this pavement getting the same tidying up as the one along London Road which now looks great – pity it doesn’t have anywhere near the volume of pedestrians.
The meeting of traffic was remarkably orderly outside school. Probably due in no small part to the zig-zags being empty. What would this scene be like if the oft talked of “Nantwich South” development plans come to pass?
How development plans would change our lives
Being curious, I took a quick look at the figures presented in Muller’s “Traffic Statement“. I wanted to see just what their predictions for traffic volumes would be, at the times when we’re taking our children to school and picking them up.
Setting aside any discussion about the validity of the data, the traffic statement predicts in less than 2 years we will have another 135 vehicles passing our school during morning drop-off! It gets worse, as by 2019 this figure rises to 156 more vehicles than today. That’s an increase from 294 to 450 vehicles! Just when we’re trying to get our children safely into school. It’s a similar situation in the afternoons too!
Apparently, having an access road from Maylands Farm corner will “create an attractive link through the site and is likely to result in a redistribution of traffic currently using First Dig Lane“. In other words, Broad Lane will be part of the main access route to this proposed development. And none of this looks to include construction traffic similar to that we’re already experiencing (since August) for the old Stapeley Water Gardens site of 146 houses.
What impact would all this have on our school journeys. It’s one thing to sit in an office crunching numbers on spreadsheets – the reality is already a mini-hell two times a day. A parent described this future picture as “a living nightmare“. And, if you travel along Peter de Stapeleigh Way or Audlem Road in the morning, imagine how much more congested that journey will be too.
Today’s scores out of 10:
Traffic volume: 5
Stupid/careless parking: 0
Manners: 9
No. of cars parking illegally:0
Mad, scary and bad 
Saw a tractor along Broad Lane today being driven by an (obviously brain dead) young farmer whilst on his mobile phone!!