Concerns are continuing to grow regarding access to a new housing development east of Garden Walk in Royston, with residents vowing the authorities to ‘say no to a TRO’.
Garden Walk and Hawthorn Way residents had originally understood access to the new Linden Homes development site for emergency services and buses would be via rise and fall bollards, but North Herts District Council said last week Highways were looking at a Traffic Regulation Order and ANPR cameras instead.
Mike Cummins, of Garden Walk, told the Crow: “It’s certainly something that has got everyone incensed.
“A lot of people have been in the area a long time, we have been here – in what was originally supposed to be a temporary home for us – since 1980, so we all feel strongly about it. Safety is priority.”
His neighbour on the road –which is also home to two schools and the town’s football, club –Pete Chalk said: “Residents are of the same opinion that a gate or barrier was the answer, which the emergency services could have access to by using a standard issue key.
“They site a lot quicker via the Newmarket Road and A505, than try to wind down Garden Walk on a day when Royston Town Football Club are playing or children are going in and out of school.
“If people needed to take a bus they would simply walk down through to Garden Walk and pick up the number 16 bus that already serves Garden Walk or, as we were originally informed, the bus would enter the site from the new roundabout onto the site from the A505.
“The bus looks as though it already struggles up and down Garden Walk as it is, without it coming down the narrowest part of Garden Walk. My five-year-old daughter Daisy is often out playing on the pavement, albeit while supervised, so it is a concern. We want a solution that is practical, sensible and safe – while being cost effective so it’s best for everyone.”
Bus firm Richmond’s Coaches spokesman told the Crow nothing has been put to them about changing the route.
He said: “We don’t stay on Garden Walk for very long at all so cars and the road is not a great issue for us, it’s only in school time that its busy.
“We have not been told anything about extending the service and I fail to see how it would work with what we have.”
A Herts County Council spokesman said: “It is our intention to extend the 16 bus route to serve the new housing development but there is no definite date for this as yet.”
Councillor David Levett, NHDC’s executive member for planning, said: “Outline planning permission has been granted to develop housing off Garden Walk in Royston.
“The planning officers at NHDC are negotiating with the applicant, to establish an adequate means of access for emergency and service vehicles.
“The application details will be appraised by the planning officers, and presented to a future meeting of the planning committee for discussion and decision.”
The planning meeting is set for 7.30pm on March 15 at the Spirella Ballroom in Letchworth’s Icknield Way.
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