At my invitation a local resident recently asked a question at the City of Ely Council meeting:

“On Saturday night there was a serious road traffic incident just west of High Barns.  This is the first serious incident to happen along this road since the roundabout at Thistle Corner was opened.  There have, however, been a serious of minor collisions and a large number of near misses.

There are no marked parking restrictions along the road and the road is almost always has a significant number of cars parked, even on junctions and corners.

The number of lorries that use the road seems to be growing and there have been a number of occasions when 2 lorries have been approaching from opposite directions and the parked vehicles mean that the road is only wide enough for one vehicle and the other has to reverse.

There are far too many vehicles who seem to use the road as a race track, and the location of bushes make it difficult to see out at some of the junctions.

It is only a matter of time before there is a serious incident on this road, possibly involving loss of life.

What are the Council prepared to do to make Kings Avenue a safe place.”

Clearly, residential open spaces where children play and where residents park is not a suitable for a busy road.  Kings Avenue was originally planned to be a major link to take traffic away from the City centre, but the Conservative led East Cambridgeshire District Council failed to take account of these risks when the Cathedral View development was approved.

Speed is highlighted by many traffic organisations as a major factor in many road traffic collisions, so we need to think carefully about speed control measures: how to prevent people from speeding along the road and placing us and our children at risk.

Parking along Kings Avenue restricts the width, and I can only describe watching HGVs reversing when they cannot pass on the stretch of the road towards Thistle Corner as being just a little scary!  But how can we ensure that visitors are easily able to park?  This highlights a major design flaw on the Cathedral View development that is not present at the Lynn Road end of Kings Avenue.  It is the result of front doors being directly on Kings Avenue – so visitors naturally park on the main road.

Of course, the problem is not just on Kings Avenue: some residents in Merivale Way and Longchamp Drive have expressed concern over parking on corners in those roads.

Visibility from the western Longchamp Drive junction has improved: shortly after the recent accident, the bushes that previously prevented a clear view of traffic travelling west along Kings Avenue has been heavily cut back, making it much safer, but the bushes simply should never have been planned there.

One small part of the problem solved, but we need YOUR views: we need to know how you want this road made safer.