Petition handed in, over proposed road junction changes.

Express & Star

Proposed changes to to the cross roads by Majestic wines in Tettenhall will be a big problem say concerned residents and councillors as they hand in a petition to the council.

Transcript

00:00 So Neil and Anna, you've kind of put this campaign together. Just for people not in the know,

00:05 what are they proposing to do and why is that going to be a problem?

00:08 Well the council had originally proposed to ban right turns at Tettle Rock Junction.

00:14 So this is the junction where the Majestic Wine Shop is isn't it?

00:16 We looked at that from a health and safety issue, a traffic issue, it's just a non-flyer.

00:27 This petition is actually about our proposals from the community in Tettmore,

00:31 which is part of a six-point plan with tangible good proposals for what they can do for traffic

00:38 engineering, looking at issues with speeding and traffic abuse at the junction, minor works that

00:44 don't cost a lot of money. This petition is for one of those proposals, the first one we started.

00:51 We started the petition only a month ago, we've already got 1,100 signatures and this is to try

00:57 an experiment which has already worked in Histons Hill in Codsall, to try a three-way phasing. It's

01:03 known to work elsewhere in the area. We asked the council to try that. There were no health and

01:09 safety issues, no traffic issues. They can see if it works, if it doesn't try other solutions,

01:16 if it does, resolve. And Anna, you'd second that, for what they're proposing, it wouldn't work as

01:24 far as you're concerned? No, I think there's obviously lots of health and safety concerns,

01:29 but also environmental concerns that it's going to increase the mileage, that people who would

01:35 ordinarily be happy to be booked will be discouraged because there's several points

01:42 around Technal where there are no footpaths or pavements and heavy road usage, you've got

01:50 pedestrians sharing that space. So I think this is a great example of how communities can lead

01:56 on planning and this is a community-led solution really. I think the community are best placed to

02:04 understand the issues at play and the potential consequences if we rush through infrastructure

02:14 changes without proper consultation and engagement with all the relevant stakeholders. I mean a

02:20 classic example was the Hills Coaches, their hub is just down by Aldersley and all of their,

02:28 I think they're responsible for about a thousand children being transported to and from school in

02:33 the locality, and they said well you know nobody consulted with us and all of their coaches need

02:39 to leave by the rock. Going up Holloway would be, well whether coaches can cope with that and the

02:46 impact on fuel usage, that's an issue and issues around the top of Lothians Road with the two tight

02:54 90 degree bends, you know if you've got a trailer, a caravan, it's just not going to be feasible. So

03:02 there's lots of sort of very obvious issues which if you live in the locality you've got a good

03:09 understanding of and I hope that the council learn that actually community engagement and looking for

03:15 community-led problem solving is the way forward right across the city I suspect actually. Yes we

03:22 found when this problem started even though we said we had a neighbourhood plan the committee

03:27 that delivered that neighbourhood plan had ceased to function therefore there was no body to actually

03:32 consult with the council over. So I've been leading on that and we have a meeting tomorrow

03:37 with the council to request re-designation of the Tecnal District for both Regis and Whittock

03:42 wards as a neighbourhood area with a neighbourhood forum and that will do more of this sort of work

03:49 to engage and enfranchise local residents to lead on planning for their area and come up with good

03:56 ideas for the council to take forward with them. Cool, when you're ready then yeah go on guys.

04:02 So we've just handed our petition in and let's hope they

04:10 listen to the concerns of residents in Tecnal District.

04:13 Hi guys just introduce yourselves. Councillor Jonathan Croft.

04:23 Councillor Celia Hibbert. And you're supporting the campaign yeah? Very much so I'm here on behalf

04:29 of the Tecnal Whittock and Tecnal Regis councillors and supporting this very important petition 1100

04:36 and counting and counting yes yeah yeah because you can still add to it can't you? Yes you can

04:43 still add to it I remember signing it when it was under 1000 so when I found out it was 1000 I was

04:49 absolutely blown away. Yeah. But this shows what the community can do when we come together so I

04:54 just want to actually thank Neil who spearheaded this fantastic campaign and we've run similar

04:59 campaigns in Pen Ward where I represent and they've been successful so I don't see any reason

05:04 why this one shouldn't be successful and I'm very very proud to be part of this campaign and we will

05:09 continue to protect the boundaries the traditional values of every single ward in Wolverhampton

05:17 because it is important to do so we don't want our city to be ruined so kudos to Tecnal residents

05:24 there are so many of them I did mention Neil but there are so many people behind this campaign

05:30 and I give them a fantastic round of applause I've been to their meetings they're well organized

05:35 they well articulate and this is what we want to see in every single ward in Wolverhampton

05:41 activism protecting the boundaries supporting the traditions ensuring that local businesses

05:47 are protected the proposal the council are recommending will decimate the small businesses

05:54 in Tecnal so why should we sit down and watch that happen my there are residents in Lothian

06:00 in Tecnal that got in touch with me and said that road is so small it cannot carry the amount of

06:09 traffic that would be diverted through it if this proposal should go through so there are so many

06:15 reasons why it shouldn't the local businesses some of them have been touched with and have explained

06:20 that this will be a disaster for their businesses so I'm hoping this will be a success the campaign

06:26 has been properly orchestrated we've done it in a way that we normally do which is leave nothing

06:31 no stone unturned so it should I am quite confident that we should be successful with this

06:39 campaign and I am delighted with the number of people that have put forward their protests and

06:47 signed up to this petition because the proposals for the rock junction would completely ruin the

06:55 area it would actually press the take the problems and actually disperse them right on both sides of

07:02 the A41 both in Tecnal Regis and Tecnal Whittock and you know it's so important that all the

07:10 residents and Anna's here and Neil and others are here that you know and I was so pleased to be able

07:18 to hand that petition in and hopefully that you know the council will hear the strong pleas and

07:26 cries because you know it affects businesses affects people on short commutes oh yeah there's

07:31 another critical element you just reminded me we have the oldest lead down the road from that

07:35 junction I've had parents saying to me I'm not going to be able to take my children to Aldersley

07:41 to take part in their activities because the road would be a shambles and Wolverhampton has the one

07:46 of the highest statistics for obesity so if we're having people being deter you know being discouraged

07:55 from going to the Aldersley this is a health issue not just a road issue this is an absolute health

08:00 issue and also it's contrary to climate change because the number of extra miles exactly put on

08:05 by people being diverted all the way around I remember the Wendy Thompson your leader the

08:11 husband of your leader saying just the temporary light in that junction meant that he stayed I think

08:18 about one hour on the road coming to the swan where we had the meeting so this is an example

08:23 of what is about to happen if we allow this ridiculous proposal to go for forward so we

08:29 cannot allow it to go for it and I'm absolutely pleased that we have over a thousand people who

08:33 have signed for this to be pushed and pushed it shall be indeed yeah so it's really important

08:40 that I think this this proposal has demonstrated why we need an active neighborhood planning place

08:47 which is firmly underpinned by by a local community group so we're looking to really

08:55 reinstall that to the area so it's anybody who's interested in community activism any walk of life

09:03 any age any demographic it's a non-political group of people who are really just inspired to protect

09:12 and enhance our local community make sure that the unique character of Technal continues to prosper

09:20 really yeah yeah so we're getting touch and how can they find out more and get in touch we have

09:27 a website cdcc.org.uk that will show you all our current activities yeah we have a meeting with

09:35 David Paterson tomorrow to start the request for designation of our district to include

09:42 neighborhood planning for activities for residents and business owners

09:47 the organization used to exist in the past it delivered the previous neighborhood plan but

09:55 ceased to function and this is the first step to bringing that back for additional

10:01 layer of democracy for engaged residents in the area

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