BASE HEADER

I strongly object to any material increase in the number of properties in Warwick and Leamington until the traffic situation in West St, High St, Jury St and Smith St has been resolved. Any increase in houses is bound to increase the traffic in those streets which are already well over capacity.

I would make the following comments about the situation:
* We have very large numbers of vehicles passing straight through the town centre including HGV and large coaches. There is an existing 7.5 tonne weight limit but no attempt is made to enforce it and it is ignored by all.
* I live in a 300 yr old listed building on High St. The whole house frequently vibrates when large vehicles pass by. Adding even more traffic can not be the right way to look after our heritage.
* I have the impression that the vast majority of the traffic is passing straight through. Can the council sponsor some research on this.
* The council have recently taken out the pedestrian crossings and put in raised junctions in the name of pedestrian friendliness. This has made the area very hazardous for pedestrians because neither they nor the drivers seem to know what the rights of way are.
* The recent work in High Street and Jury Street was very poorly executed to the extent that the raised junctions are falling apart already and the new surface had substantially worn off with 48 hours of its installation. To choose one incompetent contractor is unfortunate, to choose 2 would seem to call into question the competence of the council team. If they cant get a simple thing like this right, what guarantee have we that they can manage the work around these proposed new estates.
I understand that most of the potential solutions would not be the responsibility of the district council but it would be irresponsible to allow further development until the county council has sorted out the problem.