Hill Lane Crossing Works Underway

Work on the junction of Hill Lane and Raymond Road is now well underway.

Southampton City Council is installing a new pedestrian and cycle crossing. The pavement has also been widened on Hill Lane to improve visibility for cars turning right from Raymond Road. Click HERE for further details.

A Week In Politics

It has been a busy and eventful week in Southampton Politics. My casework post bag gone up considerably since the start of the year and there is lots going on in the city.


Council Tax

On Wednesday the BBC ran a story on how across the country council tax is set to rocket again this year as local councils continue to face cut backs in funding from the government. I did an interview on the Ten O'clock News and was able to highlight how Southampton, being in the South of England, is suffering in particular from government underfunding.

One area where Southampton is under severe financial pressure is over the issue of the national concessionary bus fares scheme due to come in on 1st April. This was announced by Gordon Brown as a pre election sweetener just before the 2005 General Election. The government promised the fund the free travel scheme but has since gone back on its pledge and is trying to shift the costs to the local council tax payer. In Southampton the shortfall in funding could be up to £1m or more (about 1.5% on council tax!)


Hill Lane Toucan Crossing

I went along to the public meeting regarding the possible Toucan crossing at Raymond Road / Hill Lane. From the conversations that I had people seemed to be broadly in favour. One issue that lots of people raised was the need to improve cycle paths around the city. If the Hill Lane crossing is popular and goes ahead then there is the opportunity to link up a cycle path through the common to the Avenue, and then up to Wilton Road and King Edwards School.


St Mark's School

I went along to the St Mark's school governors meeting on Tuesday evening to talk with them about the the council's plans to purchase the Civil Service Sports Ground in Stafford Road and also about the primary school review which is about to start in the city.


Promoting the City's Art

On Thursday I went to a reception at the civic centre art gallery, organised by Business Southampton. The new Conservative administration is looking to expand the council's art lease scheme, where works of art are loaned out to offices, private collectors and other galleries. The art gallery has far more paintings than it can hope to display and so this is an opportunity to display the art and also generate some income which can be used to meet the costs of the gallery and promote art and local artists in the city.

Crossing for Hill Lane?

For many years local residents have been complaining to me that its difficult to safety cross Hill Lane at the junction of Raymond Road. The entrance to Common makes it a popular place for people to want to cross and it is particularly difficult for parents with push chairs.

Now we have a Conservative run council action is finally being taken.

In the past proposals were brought forward for yet another set of traffic lights but I for one was very uncomfortable with this as I felt that it would mean more congestion and pollution on Hill Lane and more use of roads like Greville, Thornbury and Atherley as rat runs at rush hour.

Proposals have now been drawn up for a Toucan crossing.

In order to hear the views of local people a meeting is to be held in the St.John’s Centre in Raymond Road on Wednesday 23rd January 2008, between the hours of 2pm and 7:30pm.

Officers of the council will be there to answer your questions on the proposals.

The proposals being put forward are to provide a formal pedestrian and cycle crossing on Hill Lane just to the north of Raymond Road where the existing central island is located.

The reason for this proposal is to provide an improved crossing facility as well as linking the Cemetery Road cycle link to Raymond Road.

Additional features to be included are; the provision of a pedestrian refuge in Raymond Road and the widening of the footway in Hill Lane outside properties 184b, 186 and 188. The footway widening is to allow the ‘Give Way’ line in Raymond Road to be moved forward into Hill lane to improve the sight line for vehicles exiting Raymond Road.

I am hoping to be at the meeting in the evening after work so I can have chance to speak to people and gauge views on the proposals.

UPDATE 14/01/08: The meeting has now been changed to Wednesday 23rd January 2008.

Raymond Road

For a number of years the Council has been looking at some changes to the Raymond Road / Hill Lane junction.

There have been a few accidents over the years. Turning right from Raymond Road into Hill Lane has always been difficult because visibility on the corner is quite bad.

I have also relieved a number of letters asking if the Council could do something to help cyclists and pedestrians cross the road to access the Common entrance.

The Council's initial plans were to put in yet another set of traffic lights at the junction. I have been opposing this as it will mean more congestion and more cars using roads like Thornbury Avenue and Greville Road as rat runs to get into town.

Council officers are now working on an alternative proposal.

This is likely to include a Toucan crossing for pedestrians and cycles to be located just to the north of Raymond Road. The footways could be widened on either side of the crossing to allow for shared use by pedestrians and bicycles.

Also being investigated is the possibility of providing pedestrian islands in Raymond Road near to Hill Lane.