Highways and Traffic Calming

Both Kingston Blount and Aston Rowant suffer from the nuisance and danger of speeding traffic through our villages on the B4009. It has been a concern for Aston Rowant Parish Council for many years and we have been lucky that in the past the council has taken steps to help reduce traffic speeding. We continue to work on schemes to reduce speeding. A few years ago, we undertook speed surveys in Kingston Blount and Aston Rowant and found that the worst speeding incidents and the most accidents happen at the west end of Kingston Blount where the B4009 passes the cricket club on the slope on the way into the village. The junction with Kingston Hill is also a dangerous junction with many accidents over the years. The B4009 on entry into Aston Rowant from either end also has problems with speeding. At that time, we did not consider speeding in the villages on minor roads an issue, but we are looking to monitor these in the near future and hope to have a plan to make these roads safer as well.

The parish council’s recent focus has been on a new chicane at the entrance to Kingston Blount. In phase 2 we will be pursuing similar schemes for Aston Rowant, but for now the priority is Kingston Blount where there have been numerous accidents at the junction with Kingston Blount Hill and a number of properties on the High Street have been damaged.

The feedback we received from two consultations was a preference for a chicane at the entrance to the village rather than speed bumps; these can be noisy especially when lorries and trailers bounce over them. For the last 12 months we have been working with highways engineers at Oxfordshire County Council to produce the detailed plans for a chicane.

The plans have been widely published and a planning application has been approved. I am glad to say we received a number of letters of support from local residents.

Following planning approval Oxfordshire County Council engineers have undertaken a safety audit and have produced detailed plans for construction. The plans can be seen on this page. The parish council set up a mock version of the chicane with road cones and temporary signs and it proved to work well; it particularly helps drivers pulling out from Kingston Hill or the Stert Road as cars on the B4009 have to slow down for the chicane rather than speed up as they leave the village.

We now have a fully detailed set of plans that have been approved and safety checked, and we have a fully costed proposal for the construction from contractors. The council has been seeking funding and as of today we about half of the £38,000 we need. We are seeking the remainder of the funding from South Oxfordshire District Council through their Community Infrastructure Levy fund and we hope to have a positive response soon.

Thank you all for your support, and patience, while we get this new scheme delivered and we continue to work on making all our roads safer for everyone to use.

Matthew Day

Aston Rowant Parish Council