The residents of Melton Green have been campaigning for years to stop speeding traffic including HGVs and busses. Rotherham Council agreed that Melton Green is used as a rat run to the main Rotherham Road. Many roads in West Melton have had speed limits reduced to 20mph, but not Melton Green.
This petition ran from 30/07/2024 to 11/09/2024 and has now finished.
8 people signed this petition.
Melton Green, Wath upon Dearne – Request for a 20mph speed limit
Thank you for your recent petition relating to the above matter, which ran from the 30th July to 11th September 2024, requesting that the Council closes off the southern access to Melton Green, therefore stopping speeding traffic, including Heavy Good Vehicles and buses. In total the petition received eight signatures.
In line with current practice for addressing petitions, your request has been investigated by officers within the Council’s Transportation Infrastructure Service who advise the following.
At this time, there are no current plans to close this road. As you may be aware, during a recent Traffic Regulation Order consultation concerning a proposed 20mph restriction for Melton Green, it became evident that there are a wide variety of opinions about the future use of this road. There are wide range of differing perspectives, which further highlights the need for careful and thorough consultation before any changes are made.
However, in light of the above, the Council is aware of the longstanding issues on Melton Green. Given the intricacies of the highway network in this general area, any proposals to close roads, or any other interventions, would need to understand the likely impacts that they will have on other nearby roads. Therefore, Melton Green cannot be looked at in isolation and requires a more strategic view of these changes.
In view of this, the Council is pleased to say that work is taking place to secure funding from the Department for Transports Active Travel Fund 4 programme. Within the brief submitted, we have included the geographic area encompassing Melton Green and the wider Brampton area. The purpose is that changes, like closing Melton Green, are exactly the kind of interventions the study will consider and seek to understand. Working with the communities on this is essential and if you are agreeable, contacting you as part of the study group would add value to the process.
The purpose of the study is essentially a bidding documents to provide the evidence for capital funding. There might be elements of this which could be phased, like Melton Green given the dialogue on the previous proposals. The commissioning of this work is in the final stages of the procurement process and community engagement (specifically Melton Green) is part of this process.
Further to the point raised about buses and HGVs, while Melton Green does not have an HGV restriction, it is clearly not suitable for HGVs, with the exception of access to properties for deliveries. It is also not a registered bus route.
With regard to the 20mph reference in the Petition, towards the end of 2022, your Local Ward Members submitted four schemes in the Hoober Ward to the Council’s Local Neighbourhood and Road Safety Scheme programme, which has been set up to address concerns in the community. One of these submissions was for the introduction of measures to reduce the speed of traffic along Melton Green.
These submissions led to several investigations to take place resulting in a proposed scheme comprising of a 20mph speed limit with vertical traffic calming measures in the form of road humps between Melton High Street and Packman Road, which was subsequently consulted on with residents and third-party statutory consultees.
Formal consultations commenced on 31st August 2023. Several comments, observations, and objections to the proposed 20mph speed limit and road humps were received which were duly considered. In addition to the formal consultation exercise, a locally promoted questionnaire was run by residents, which was used as an objection to the proposals being promoted by the Council.
Whilst we recognise the pervasive issues of rat running and speeding along Melton Green, differing opinions on the solution surfaced. Further points raised in the local newsletter require deeper consideration and coupled with increased costs, the scheme has been paused subject to further investigation. However, the Active Travel Fund 4 study mentioned previously will allow the Council to work with you to determine a solution for the future.
I trust this information is helpful in setting out the current situation for a scheme along Melton Green, however, should you wish to discuss this matter further please do not hesitate to contact the Head of Service for Transportation by email at transportation@rotherham.gov.uk or on telephone number 01709 382121.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Bramidge
Strategic Director