SPEEDING IN BOWER HILL & STATION ROAD

I have received a large number of communications from local residents this week regarding the amount of cars which speed carelessly, especially during rush-hour, down Station Road to Epping Station or through the Road into Bower Hill. This is an issue which Epping Town Council has drawn to the attention of Essex County Council’s Highways Department previously. The Council stated that it did not believe that the vehicle activated speed signs have reduced speeding in Bower or indeed in Ivy Chimneys Road.

On Friday 12th June a pretty bad accident took place, as you will see from the attached picture and it’s not the first! You can see from the location of the car on the pavement how bad this could have been. There is only pavement on one side of the highway in this area so it has to be used and the pretty dangerous crossing from Coniston Court into Bower Hill is of significant concern.

I have raised this issue with the neighbourhood policing team, the police traffic department and with the police Inspector for Epping and have requested for traffic to be closely monitored between 7am and 9am and again from 3pm to 5pm during the week to ascertain quite how bad this issue is and to also issue speeding fines where appropriate.

I have also organised to raise this matter with the County Councillor for Epping, Janet Whitehouse, at Epping Town Council’s meeting on Tuesday 28th July 2009 at 8.15pm. This meeting will take place at Epping Hall in St. John’s Road and is open for members of the public to attend.

It is clear that speeding has become an issue more recently since the new parking regulations were implemented last year and have freed these roads of parked cars, allowing motorists to pass at much greater speeds. I believe this is a matter of local safety and will be working with these agencies to ensure that we are acting to remind those who are breaking the speed limit in residential areas that they are putting lives at risk. I will keep you updated with any further action on this matter.