Stock Parish Council has received the results of three traffic surveys regarding the High Street and Stock Road (B1007) from Essex Highways.
One was a pedestrian/vehicle conflict survey (PV2) commissioned for the High Street, while the other two were to survey the speed of vehicles, the first in the High Street and the second on Stock Road in the 60mph zone which passes the junction with Crondon Park Golf Club.
Starting with the PV2 survey, the Parish Council made a Local Highways Panel (LHP) application for the survey to be carried out with a view to replacing the Zebra crossing outside Budgens with a Pelican crossing – a move supported by 89% of respondents to the Parish Council’s December 2023 Road Safety Survey.
Essex Highways carried out the PV2 survey on Tuesday 23 April 2024 and the results shared with the Parish Council do justify the installation of a signalised pedestrian crossing facility, such as a Pelican crossing.
This is because the PV2 recorded was 0.967 x 108 – above the 0.7×108 required.
PV2 is calculated by multiplying the collision factor (collisions between cyclists/pedestrians and motorised vehicles in the past 36 months) by the difficulty factor (determined by speed limit, road width and number of lanes), further multiplied by the Basic PV2 value (calculated using pedestrian and vehicle counts from the four busiest hours of the day).
At the Parish Council’s Annual Meeting on Tuesday 14 May, it was confirmed that an LHP Scheme Request has been made through the village’s Essex County Councillor, Ian Grundy, and this is now being considered by Essex Highways.
Also related to the Zebra crossing application, a seven-day survey was carried out 50 metres north east of the crossing by Essex Highways between Saturday 20 April and Friday 26 April 2024 inclusive. The results showed a total of 88,558 vehicles travelled that route – an average of 12,651 per day – with an average speed across the seven days of 24.8mph. The posted speed limit of 30mph was exceeded by 10.9% of vehicles, with peak daytime speeds being recorded in both directions between 7am and 7.30am on Saturday 20 April, based on 15-minute averages.
With widespread concern about speeding traffic and road safety in the village, the Parish Council launched ‘Stock Against Speeding’ in March this year, with hundreds of villagers turning out to highlight the need to slow traffic down (pictured, above).
On the topic of introducing further speed calming measures in the High Street, respondents to the Parish Council’s December 2023 Road Safety Survey were split exactly 50/50 between supporting a 30mph limit with average speed cameras installed and a 20mph limit with no average speed cameras.
A second LHP application saw seven-day speed surveys carried out at two locations on Stock Road/B1007.
The first, opposite the bus stop at the junction with School Lane, found 96,983 vehicles passed – an average of 13,855 per day – with an average speed across the seven days of 29.9mph. The posted speed limit of 30mph was exceeded by 51.2% of vehicles (7,093 per day).
The second, 65 metres south west of the junction with Common Road, found 91,565 vehicles passed – an average of 13,081 per day – with an average speed across the seven days of 27.2mph. The posted speed limit of 30mph was exceeded by 23.3% of vehicles (3,048 per day).
A final decision on which measure(s) can be taken forward will be reviewed now that the speed survey results have been collected and analysed.
At the Parish Council’s Annual Meeting, councillors agreed to continue to pursue the installation of average speed cameras on the High Street, as the proportion of speeding vehicles still represents thousands of vehicles exceeding the posted speed limit each week.
The third set of results received relate to an LHP application to survey the speed of vehicles in the 60mph zone which passes Crondon Park Golf Club, with a view to reducing the speed limit to 40mph.
This seven-day survey was carried out between Saturday 13 April and Friday 19 April inclusive.
The results showed a total of 95,349 vehicles travelled that route – an average of 13,621 per day – with an average speed across the seven days of 42.2mph. The posted speed limit of 60mph was exceeded by less than 0.5% of vehicles.
Councillors agreed to pursue this matter, noting the fact the speed limit is 40mph on Stock Road to the north passing The Ship, and 30mph to the south through the village, and in light of recent residential developments along Stock Road.
