Village Meeting – 29th May 2024

Greywell Road Safety Group (GRSG) were delighted to welcome 38 attendees to the presentation in the Village Hall. Speakers included Greywell Parish Councillor Richard Cole, Jennie McFarlane, Chris Ashworth and Nick Kavanagh of the GRSG, South Warnborough Parish Councillor Patricia Forsyth, Hart District Councillor Stephen Highley and Hampshire County Councillor Jonathan Glen. This was a very well attended meeting and reflects the degree of interest among villagers for traffic calming measures in Greywell.

You can replay the presentation slides here – GRS VH2024

The Parish Council has been able to purchase two speed indicator devices (SIDs) for the village with help of a grant from County Councillor Jonathan Glen, a grant from Hampshire County Council (HCC) and S106 funds paid to HCC as a result of the approved planning application at the Old Dairy.

The Parish Council made a decision on which SIDs to purchase supported by research from the GRSG. Having more than one SID enables the Parish Council to significantly increase the frequency with which they appear at strategic points (approved by HCC) in the village. You can see where these points are in the online presentation.

Hampshire Highways have indicated support posts for the SIDs will be installed by October 2024 (if not sooner) at which time the SID can be put into use. At this time the Parish Council will need a group of volunteers to move the signs at regular intervals. The Parish Council would like a team for each location. Some people have already volunteered, but we need more. If you would like to help please email Richard at cllrcole@greywellparish.gov.uk

Data from South Warnborough’s traffic calming measures, presented to the meeting by Cllr. Patricia Forsyth, showed the positive impact the combination of a number of elements was having to encourage drivers to slow down and change their attitude to driving through a village. This view was supported by Cllr. Stephen Highley.

Historically, going for the greatest impact we can afford in Greywell, SIDs, Village Gateways and establishing a 20-mph village wide zone were backed by the 2022 village survey and by the majority of those attending the first GRSG meeting in February 2023.

With SIDs up and running very soon, the Parish Council will be able to gather data on vehicle speeds at different locations in the village, at different times of day, and on different days of the week. This data will contribute to our application for a 20-mph zone. It is important to note that GRSG, and the village as a whole, has made it clear that the 30mph speed limit does not provide the level of safety essential to protect the wide range of everyday and recreational road users in our village.  That is why we feel the 20mph limit is essential to meet our particular needs.

To achieve this ambition, the GRSG needs to start fundraising now. Our initial target is £20,000. Half to install three gateways at the entrances to the village, and half towards getting approval from Hampshire Highways for our 20mph zone.

Mike O’Neil, Greywell Village Hall treasurer, has kindly enabled donations to be held in their account so no commission needs to be paid to an outside agency. We will be focussing on our fundraising campaign in the months ahead, but donations can be made immediately.

Making your donation is easy.

  1. With Online Banking. Go to ‘pay someone new’ in your banking app. For the Greywell Village Hall account, type in the sort code 30-93-32 and account number 01374592. In the reference box type in GRSG. Confirm and send.
  2. By cheque. Make your donation out to Greywell Village Hall. Sign, date and write GRSG on the back of your cheque. Post or deliver your envelope to Chris Ashworth, Coomberry, Hook Road, RG29 1BT.

Thank you for your continued support!

Our GRSG presentation closed with a powerful reminder from Cllr. Jonathan Glen that large scale developments such as the warehouses proposed at Lodge Farm would, if allowed, catastrophically increase traffic movements locally. This in turn will inevitably impinge on surrounding villages like ours.

Response from the floor included details of a car travelling too fast narrowly avoiding a collision with a Mill View resident walking her dogs on The Street, a plea to deal with potholes in the village, and the agreement that collecting data via our SIDs will be important going forward.

Greywell Road Safety Group

Nick Kavanagh, Jennie McFarlane, Chris Ashworth

Village Meeting – 7th February 2023

3 proposals were made:

  1. That the village would like the Parish Council to inform Hampshire County Council (HCC) of their support to change the speed limit in the village to 20mph
    1. Background … A sub-committee of HCC has issued a report recommending 20mph be adopted on all new developments and large regeneration projects. It is however silent on existing communities and streets. A final decision is planned for July 2023 and there is a brief period of time where we can try broaden the recommendations. The “20’s Plenty for Us” has asked Parish Councils to do this and our Parish Clerk has indicated she will re-iterate support provided in February 2022.
  2. That the village would like replace the entry signs to the village with more attractive gateways to make it clearer that speed should be moderated.
  3. That the village would like to procure a Speed Indicator Device (SID) to be sited in various locations in the village to encourage compliance to speed limits and to help identify where the hotspots are.

30 out of 32 attendees supported the 20 mph proposal; All 32 attendees supported the gateway and SID proposal.

To progress any of these initiatives, we will need to request a HCC consultation which will cost £250 and expected to take place within 6-8 weeks.

The Road Safety Group will now look to discuss the outcome of this meeting with the Parish Council to discuss how best to take things forward.

Village Meeting – 7th February 2023

The Greywell Road Safety Group was established in early 2022 by Nick Kavanagh, Jennie McFarlane, Richard and Anita Cole to see what might be done to help make the village safer for us all to enjoy.

  • A survey was undertaken in mid 2022 by 71 respondents to 19 questions with very positive support : 97% agreeing that speeds of or above 30mph in our village are inappropriate and 91% supporting a 20 mph speed limit.
  • 84% said they would like to attend a meeting in the village hall to discuss what might be done.
  • In September, Hampshire County Council undertook their own survey with the potential to introduce a 20mph limit in villages across Hampshire. The results were expected in December but this has now been deferred to March this year.
  • We have decided to not wait any longer and hold the meeting as requested in the village hall on 7th February at 7.30pm.
  • The intention is to review the results of the survey, provide information on the options we have and to present proposals of the way forward.
  • Our objective is to improve the safety of village in an affordable way whilst maintaining the current village character.

We look forward to seeing as many of you who can make it on the 7th.