SEPTEMBER 2001
We are sorry to note the retirement of Councillor John Lloyd
who has loyally served the council for so many years. A presentation will be
made to him at the meeting.
A new notice board,
which matches the seat on the Smithy Green, should be installed for the Autumn.
The Parish Council have recently instigated a Rural
Transport Survey, which involves Tiverton and
nine other local villages. It is hoped to carry out the survey this
Autumn by way of a short questionnaire, distributed to each household. Please
give this survey your consideration as the results of this survey will have a
say in future transport issues for our
village and the surrounding area .(It
is no good moaning about the lack of buses when it is too late !) .More
information will be given at a later date.
The Village Hall Committee are looking for new members, due
to the retirement of Bill Thomas. Please contact Maurice Hayward.
Councillor Mrs
Denise Halstead 733565
Councillor
Derek Marshall 732217
Councillor
Andrew Thorne 732762
Councillor Mrs
Ann Wright 732950
Roadworks on the A49
Road maintenance works on
the A49 between Mill Farm and the Red Fox Pub are due to begin 1st
October 2001. Work is expected to last
for 10 weeks. Representatives from Babtie are attending the Parish Council
meeting on 18th September to discuss any concerns parishoners may
have.
Please note amendments to calendar as follows:-
October 2nd
Julia White Herbs etc.
October 23rd
Plant Sale 7:30pm for 8pm start.
January 5th
2001 “Beat The Bounds” walk everyone welcome meet at Smithy Layby at 10am
Audrey Povell (733520)
“Tiverton” is derived from the Old English word “Teafor” meaning red pigments, refering to the red soil in the area..(Oxford Dictionary)
Tiverton Homewatch
Since the last newsletter we have fortunately only suffered two reported incidents, the first being the theft of mowers from a shed, the second was when another shed was broken into and two cans of petrol taken. In both cases the police were informed. Residents are advised once again to keep all outbuildings securely locked and to whitewash any window. It is also wise practice to clearly mark all garden equipment with your postcode and if possible to paint any mowers etc. in a nondescript colour.
There have been some changes in the
management of our police division. The new Divisional Commander is Supt. Nick
Ingram. Within the Chester rural police area we now have an additional
sergeant, Terry Honeyboume, he and our current sergeant, Ian Ankers will work
“opposite” shifts, and they carry the responsibility for the whole of the rural
sector. As before they can be contacted by phone at Mickle Trafford, 01244
300245, or Dragon HaIl 01829 771293. Our local police officer is still Ray
Stockton at Dragon Hall.
The Crewe & Nantwich Division, in
which Bunbury is situated, have now commissioned their mobile police station.
Regular visits are scheduled for this vehicle to the rural communities in that
division. Vale Royal Division, covering Tarporley, will shortly receive two similar
vehicles and it is hoped that the division will be able to show a police
presence in the Tarporley area from time to time.
Lastly report any incident to the
police. Keep alert and be particularly aware of bogus callers.
Derek Marshall
Last year you may remember seeing a pair of rubber cords
stretched across Huxley Lane just east of The Dale. For one week, this device collected data about traffic speed and
weights, giving information about the time the vehicle crossed the cords and in
which direction. During the week, there were about 95 vehicles/hour passing
through the village, dropping to 70/hour at weekends. Of these, only about
3/hour fall in the ‘juggernaught’ class.
As one might expect there are more vehicles traveling towards Chester in
the morning, returning in the early evening.
Our real concern is about the speed vehicles travel through the village and this survey registered an average speed of 30-35mph across all vehicles, ie more than half the vehicles traveling through the center of Tiverton exceed the speed limit! Even more disturbing, when you reflect on how little dedicated pavement there is alongside Huxley Lane, over a quarter of all vehicles were traveling in excess of 40mph. At this speed, it takes at least 36m to bring the vehicle to a stop under ideal conditions, and on such a twisting road, there is barely that length of road with a clear view. It is amazing that we have not had a serious accident in Tiverton!
Traffic calming is widely used in Cheshire, but it seems to be only in response to a serious accident, usually a fatality. Our data tells a disturbing story, but a year has gone by since the survey and the Parish Council has had nothing but a mass of figures which we have had to analyse ourselves to extract the sort of information given above. We will continue to press for better speed management through the centre of Tiverton, but it will be a slow process.
Steve Armitage