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A public meeting to discuss the effect of the traffic lights installed at the busy Telford Junction in Morpeth will be held on Thursday 12th July at 6.30pm in Morpeth Town Hall.
Residents, local businesses and interested parties are invited to attend the meeting, organised by Northumberland County Council, to review the evidence on typical waiting times at peak and off peak times at the junction and assess the overall impact of the lights now that they have been installed for almost three months.
Representatives from Dransfield Properties, Morpeth Chamber of Trade and the County Council will be attending the chaired meeting to present the evidence, address concerns and answer any questions.
At a previous public meeting held in May, concerns were raised about increased traffic delays resulting from the lights which were installed at the beginning of April.
The Council agreed to hold further talks with stakeholders about the way the junction operates and pledged to hold a public meeting in July to review whether the lights were operating effectively after a settling in period.
Cllr Simon Reed, executive member for infrastructure and environment said: “Since the installation of the lights in April as part of a scheme to mitigate increased traffic due to the new supermarket, a number of issues regarding traffic flows have been raised with us.
"We have taken on board those comments and improvements have already been made not only to the layout of the junction and signage, but also to the timings of the lights at the junction.
"We also agreed that we would collate further evidence of traffic flow and delay, monitor how the junction was working and discuss issues with stakeholders and then feedback on progress to a public meeting in July.
“I really do hope that people will come to listen to the findings and be ready to discuss any further issues or concerns in a constructive way so that we can minimise traffic queues in and around Morpeth for the benefit of visitors and residents alike.”
Additional Information:
- The traffic signals have been installed by Dransfield properties to accommodate additional traffic expected to travel to the Morrisons store at Low Stanners when it opens at the end of 2012. The influence of general increases in traffic over the Telford Bridge were also taken into account.
- Dransfield Properties undertook assessments of the old roundabout layout with additional traffic added to it, to assess how the junction would cope with the opening of the supermarket. It was concluded by both Dransfield and officers from the County Council that the junction would not be able to cope with the traffic flows, and major congestion would arise. A new layout was the only way forward
- A range of options was considered – a bigger roundabout, a shared space roundabout, a priority junction and traffic signals. Assessments showed that only the signals could limit queuing with the additional traffic expected on the road.
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