Residents in Church Lane, Colden Common demand their new speed limit.
Villagers in Colden Common are worried that speeding drivers are not only endangering lives, but also shaking their homes.
Vibration from lorries in Church Lane is causing pictures to fall off the walls in some houses where residents have spent several years campaigning to reduce the speed limit.
However, it has yet to be changed, and villagers are losing patience with highways chiefs. As a result, around 30 blocked the road briefly today (November 20) to make their point. Church Lane is the only road in Colden Common without a 30mph limit.
Residents had expected one to be introduced last year, but are still waiting. Villagers added that motorists often exceed the current 40mph limit.
Barbara Kelly, from Church Lane, said: "Many drivers, particularly motor-cyclists, break the speed limit. Residents regularly grit their teeth when a motorbike screams down Church Lane at more than 70mph, holding their breath lest a child tries to cross the road, or a horse and rider, or mother with a buggy or an innocent dog walker. The situation is worsening daily."
Guy Pritchard-Davies, who has lived in the lane for 10 years, added that it was prone to accidents. "I've had a motorbike come through into my garden once. I brought the rider into my house and phoned an ambulance while he was bleeding all over my carpet." He added that the road surface was a major concern. When lorries went by, the vibration was enough to dislodge pictures from the wall, he said.
Steve Brine, Prospective MP for Winchester, is backing the residents' in their demand for action; “This is tremendously frustrating for local residents. All too often in these cases, councils are tied up in a lengthy process prescribed by Government. That makes speed limit changes, such as the one in Church Lane, far more complicated than it needs to be. I am already speaking with the police about enforcement because a new 30mph sign is only half the battle as we know from elsewhere in the area.
“This stretch of road needs a new 30mph limit now but it also urgently needs repairs to the increasingly dangerous and uneven road surface.”A county spokeswoman said the 30mph limit was due to be introduced before April but added there are no plans to have Church Lane re-surfaced this financial year 2007/8.
Steve Brine added; “That is not good enough, the campaign will go on because this is a safety and a qualify of life issue.”
Pictured above; Steve with Guy and Carolyn Pritchard-Davies in Church Lane back in June 2007.
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See this story in The Hampshire Chronicle here.