Letters
Harnham Business Park is a lesson for council developers
IT was with dismay that we read the article in the Journal of July 17 about the proposed new business park on Netherhampton Road, between the current Harnham Business Park and the Livestock Market.
The Harnham Business Park, completed in 2005, has only ever had one occupier, Bookers Cash and Carry.
The rest of the park is now an eyesore, as my photographs (right) show.
So, why does the council think we need another
business park where one already exists which is largely
unoccupied and which
businesses have shown little interest in occupying to date?
The council's thinking that some Churchfield's businesses "may want to move there" is not, in our opinion, a strong justification for such a scheme.
In addition, what about the vacant sites available for local businesses at Solstice Park - shouldn't the council be concentrating on getting these sites occupied before planning another unnecessary business park?
We welcome any moves to improve local employment opportunities, but we are concerned about the adverse effects the proposed park would have on the A3094 (the Harnham and Netherhampton Roads) and, in turn, the quality of life for West Harnham's residents.
As it is, this road already reaches saturation point at certain times of the working day, mainly due to it being used by HGVs and other commercial vehicles along with residential traffic.
The A3094 is a seen as much better alternative to the Ring Road, as a glance at any map will show.
In addition, the road is the main thoroughfare through West Harnham, a residential area, not a commercial one.
It has a total of 16 side roads leading into it from housing estates located both north and south of the road and from two schools, in addition to the 280 or so residences who are
situated on the roadside.
There is enough traffic, both local and from elsewhere, already using the A3094
without burdening it with the extra vehicular movements an additional business park would bring.
Of course, developers would be expected to make some form of contributions towards
improving local infrastructure.
But, in our opinion, there are no improvements which could be made to the A3094 itself as it cannot be widened - an
obvious solution for coping with increased traffic - due to the buildings located on the roadside.
Mention was made in the Journal's article of future improvements to the gyratory system at Harnham Junction.
However, we believe such improvements would make
little difference to the traffic congestion on the A3094; in addition the gyratory was only upgraded in 2006.
While we look forward to the public consultations on the subject, we cannot help but think that the scheme is a veiled attempt to move Churchfield's problems across the city to West Harnham.
MAJOR & MRS TONY BARNES, Salisbury
12:54pm Thursday 7th August 2008
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CommentPosted by: PAC, Harnham on 12:00pm Mon 11 Aug 08
Following a series of accidents in Netherhampton Road last year, I asked local councillors to look into the issue of speeding and heavy lorries along the road. As a result a speed measurement wire was installed a short distance back from my home and speeds were recorded for a week. Wiltshire County Council informed the councillors that there was no evidence of accidents or excessive speeding, this despite my own research and experience recording some 12 incidents and accidents in the period since the resurfacing of Netherhampton Road alone! These "non-existent" accidents included my own home being hit by a stolen car estimated to be travelling at around 70mph at 6.00 a.m., two lorries colliding outside the OneStop shop, a child being knocked down, a local resident having their car deliberately rammed from behind wen she tried to pull up to reverse on to her drive and one unfortunate couple whose front wall was demolished by a runaway driver for the third time! The results of the speeding wire showed that on average 85,000 vehicles a week were passing down Netherhampton Road and examination of the figures passed to me appear to show that 15 % of the traffic is travelling at 34mph or greater. 34 is 13% above the speed limit. That's 11000 vehicles; 1580 a day; 66 each hour; one vehicle every 55 seconds, travelling at least 113% of the legal speed limit! As the correspondent above indicates, there are times when the heavy vehicle traffic saturates what is after all a very narrow road. My home is shaken by heavy lorries passing from around 4.30 a.m. every weekday morning, and the noise created by them hurtling along is becoming noticeably louder. The speed of many of these vehicles leaves us a residents waiting for someone to be killed before any action is taken, indeed the letters received by my local councillor last year would apper to more or less state this to be the case.
The lorry park and cattle market are listed as reasons why this huge amount of heavy traffic is allowed to use what is really a residential street, however these are accessible from the Ring Road and Wilton Road where there is much less residential area. My suggestion that a weight restriction was placed on the Harnham Junction was met with stoney silence by all concerned. I understand from local residents who have lived in West Harnham far longer than I have that the traffic was "invited" to use Netherhampton Road during the re-building of the skew bridge and thatit was upgraded to an "A" road as a result of this. Given that the legal size of lorries has increased considerably during recent years, we are now have vehicles that are simply too big for the road pounding up and down at all times of day and night, and they basically are destroying the quality of life of residents. To encourage even more traffic on to this road is a madness and while I would not want to stop progress I would certainly agree that Harnham and Netherhampton Roads are simply at saturation point and are a death trap waiting to happen.
Incidentally, following the major repairs to the road which was collapsing as a result of the weight it was carrying, readers might be interested to hear that thre are already considerable signs of it sinking again and large holes are beginning to appear at various sites!
Following a series of accidents in Netherhampton Road last year, I asked local councillors to look into the issue of speeding and heavy lorries along the road. As a result a speed measurement wire was installed a short distance back from my home and speeds were recorded for a week. Wiltshire County Council informed the councillors that there was no evidence of accidents or excessive speeding, this despite my own research and experience recording some 12 incidents and accidents in the period since the resurfacing of Netherhampton Road alone! These "non-existent" accidents included my own home being hit by a stolen car estimated to be travelling at around 70mph at 6.00 a.m., two lorries colliding outside the OneStop shop, a child being knocked down, a local resident having their car deliberately rammed from behind wen she tried to pull up to reverse on to her drive and one unfortunate couple whose front wall was demolished by a runaway driver for the third time! The results of the speeding wire showed that on average 85,000 vehicles a week were passing down Netherhampton Road and examination of the figures passed to me appear to show that 15 % of the traffic is travelling at 34mph or greater. 34 is 13% above the speed limit. That's 11000 vehicles; 1580 a day; 66 each hour; one vehicle every 55 seconds, travelling at least 113% of the legal speed limit! As the correspondent above indicates, there are times when the heavy vehicle traffic saturates what is after all a very narrow road. My home is shaken by heavy lorries passing from around 4.30 a.m. every weekday morning, and the noise created by them hurtling along is becoming noticeably louder. The speed of many of these vehicles leaves us a residents waiting for someone to be killed before any action is taken, indeed the letters received by my local councillor last year would apper to more or less state this to be the case.
The lorry park and cattle market are listed as reasons why this huge amount of heavy traffic is allowed to use what is really a residential street, however these are accessible from the Ring Road and Wilton Road where there is much less residential area. My suggestion that a weight restriction was placed on the Harnham Junction was met with stoney silence by all concerned. I understand from local residents who have lived in West Harnham far longer than I have that the traffic was "invited" to use Netherhampton Road during the re-building of the skew bridge and thatit was upgraded to an "A" road as a result of this. Given that the legal size of lorries has increased considerably during recent years, we are now have vehicles that are simply too big for the road pounding up and down at all times of day and night, and they basically are destroying the quality of life of residents. To encourage even more traffic on to this road is a madness and while I would not want to stop progress I would certainly agree that Harnham and Netherhampton Roads are simply at saturation point and are a death trap waiting to happen.
Incidentally, following the major repairs to the road which was collapsing as a result of the weight it was carrying, readers might be interested to hear that thre are already considerable signs of it sinking again and large holes are beginning to appear at various sites!
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