Shoreham traffic issues: looking for ways forward

Last week I chaired a meeting, organised by the Shoreham Society and with strong involvement from the Parish Council, on traffic issues in the village. There are long-running concerns about on-street parking and consequent blockage of roads at the heart of the village - especially High Street and parts of Church Street - and a number of key issues and actions were identified during a walk of the village in 2012. These also included a lack of clear identification to drivers at the edge of the village that they are coming into a residential environment.

It has been possible to take action in response to some of these issues. We have run speed and traffic checks at various points in the village, yielding valuable information (broadly speaking - and unsurprisingly - traffic speeds at the edges of the village are at higher levels than would enable a 20 mph zone to be implemented, but they are much lower in the High Street). While full village gateways were eventually rejected, red high friction surfacing and road markings were introduced at the approaches to the village.

Not all the traffic issues come within the County Council's remit; some will, for example, require action by the Parish Council. However, a number of potential ways forward were identified at the meeting:

• I will pursue actively the possibilities for a footpath to the station. This was in any case on my list of projects for consideration, though awaiting adequate money becoming available within my Combined Member Fund

• I will pursue the possibilities of a limited 20 mph zone within the heart of the village

• The Parish Council to continue to examine sites for extra parking, including controversial possibilities such as land near the allotments

• There was strong interest in strategic use of yellow lines to create passing places in Church Street and High Street. There was also renewed support for looking at yellow lines around the George bend. (Any yellow lines that are implemented will have to be of a design compatible with a conservation area; on which subject, Kent Highways have promised me to tackle the long-running 'wrong sort of yellow lines' at Crown Road).

It was a very productive meeting. Doubtless, as proposals are brought forward, there will be less consensus and harmony than was then apparent. But it gives us quite a lot to work with.