Suckley Community Plan Housing and Transport Group

First meeting - 1^st March 2010
Present: Andrew Grieve, Peter Whatley, Robin Hill

Housing – Community has little influence on planning issues. AG remarked that we need to have a clearer picture of what the community felt about further development in the village. RH reported that earlier work by Parish Council had failed to identify suitable sites for low cost housing and that a parish housing survey carried out some years ago. AG agreed to find a copy of the results of this old survey
It was felt that we would need to carry out a new survey of housing needs to ascertain the current situation
Transport - It was agreed that public transport initiatives such as Sphere bus and the daily bus service was very poorly supported so there was no case for pushing for a better service. The volunteer service to get people to and from doctors surgery was only lightly used and the present arrangements seemed adequate.
Traffic – There are some issues concerning speeding within the 30 mph limited areas.
AG agreed to check if the recent exercise by the police in locating a temporary speeding warning also produced any data which could be useful for our plan
The group discussed some ideas which could be deliverable:-
a) School warning signs on approaches to turning into Church Lane and rumble strips to slow traffic
b) Rumble strips at Stocks Farm X roads
c) Re laying of road to remove standing water near Nelson and near Rectory Cottage
ther suggestions –
a) Provide more grit bins in the parish and make sure that they are kept filled
b) Provide a weather proof footpath from Damson Way to Longley Green built up area
c) More rigorous control over verge encroachment by Parish Council
RH agreed to take over running of this task group and will call next meeting.

Second meeting 31st March 2010
Chair: Robin Hill
Robin tabled a copy of “Suckley planning for real” dated 2001, the document reflecting that year’s endeavour.
Public transport
Around that time a public transport questionnaire had been undertaken at doorsteps. This indicated similar problems to today – low use of very limited services.
The group concluded that there was not a sufficient constituency to argue a case for improvement in public transport. Existing bus services are barely used by Suckley residents, though those same buses provide a valuable service along their routes for other villages between here and Worcester and Bromyard.
Nevertheless it was decided that the timetables for the bus services should be more widely publicised – not least by a panel in the Sphere.
Perhaps a local taxi firm might usefully advertise in the Sphere?

Pedestrian facilities
The notion of a dedicated footpath running between “upper Suckley” (the Stocks Farm/Damson Way) residential area and Longley Green was raised again. It was felt this was a desirable goal, albeit very expensive. A means of bonding the two geographically separated segments of the village community was seen as a worthwhile ambition.

Speed limits
While it was noted that it was regrettably common practice by many motorists to fail to abide by the existing speed limits, the group considers that further limitation on the tolerance of speeding should be sought. The 30 limit at Stocks Farm crossroads should be pushed further back from the top of the Knightwick road to embrace the whole of the Stocks crossroads. There was some argument in favour of reducing the speed to 20 mph in the residential areas, and perhaps establishing 40 mph limits at the perimeters of the parish.
The group seek wider feedback on these possibilities.
It was strongly felt that Rumble strips or humps should be created to demark the 30 limit areas.
It was considered that there should be warning signs to indicate the school to the west of the Knightwick road. The police have monitored speeding in the past but explain that there are very few cars during the day. The Group recommend that the police monitor at around 8.30 am or 3.30 pm when the traffic is at its busiest.

Other transport matters
The group registered that the road near the Nelson needs re-laying; that further grit bins should be established at key points and that verge encroachment problems continue to trouble the Parish Council.
Mike Jackson agreed to provide a parish map in order to show residents the various suggested amendments to “road furniture” at the Open Meeting of the Parish in May.

Housing
The previous survey of housing needs indicated a low level of appetite for social housing by locals. In recent years Festival Housing have been unable to find locals wishing to take on residencies.
The south Worcestershire strategy plans do not seek to allocate new housing to Suckley, but this Group were of the view that Suckley would benefit from an influx of new residents – to enrich the community, the school, parish activities, the shop, post office, pubs and other facilities.
To that effect, new houses built between “upper Suckley” and Longley Green would help bind the two areas together and might enable the establishment of a viable footpath between the areas.
It was further felt that some sort of “branding” for Suckley would enhance its sense of place and identity.

Conclusions
These notes along with those of the other topic groups will be collated by Andrew Grieve in order to present to the Open Meeting a summary of the issues and recommendations raised to date.