On Gilberdyke's ageing footbridge with the Leeds Metropolitan University civil engineering students The Parish Councils of Gilberdyke, Newport and North Cave have over the past six months worked closely with the Goole and Howdenshire Local Action Team (LAT) and Howdenshire Forward to move the 'Wallingfen Way' ( B1230) project forward.
This project concerns a stretch of road like no other. Newport and Gilberdyke village communities are effectively split in half by what was once the only East West route from Hull to the rest of the UK. As a result, significant problems remain including a wide carriageway (dual through and between Gilberdyke and Newport), relatively high speed limits and remnants of trunk road infrastructure that are obsolete and counter intuitive to all users. North Cave suffers slightly different problems including parking, HGV movements and a very difficult junction.
The local communities set the following overall aims:
- Reclaim the B1230 for the benefit of our communities
- Create community/village boundary delineation and focal points (possibly iconic, gateways)
- Improve the aesthetic/visual appearance of the environs of the road (including footpaths and boundaries) both within and between the villages. Including the de-cluttering of both signage and paint. Encouraging residents and landowners to participate in the visual enhancement of their properties and boundaries in an environmentally friendly way e.g. tree planting
- Create a ‘sense’ of Village community identity by enabling ‘Shared Spaces’
- Create a ‘soft’ pathway for movement between villages; e.g. continuous footpaths, bridleways and cycleways.
Members of Gilberdyke, Newport and North Cave Parish Councils and other volunteers have undertaken their own walkability audit of their villages to identify issues with the road. This past week has seen 20 Civil Engineering students from Leeds Metropolitan University carrying out site visits for a project briefing and starting to work on viable solutions. Work with local schools on possible designs for village gateways and signs will commence soon, as well as exploring options for business sponsorships.
We will then see the Students submit design proposals, a draft design guide for key stakeholders will then be produced and a mounted exhibition of draft proposals will take place followed by revision of the draft before the final version is published and a launch event takes place.
The Yorkshire Post covered this story, many thanks to journalist Chris Berry who wrote the piece highlighting the issue. This can be found at:http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/country-view/Why-these-villagers-are-at.5803112.jp
4 comments:
Hopefully we shall see this project come to fruition and our communities be restored to peaceful oases of dwellings in a rural setting. It is very unfortunate that this year saw the dual carriageway resurfaced and garishly repainted in Gilberdyke.
This expenditure can only be considered a colossal waste of money and only serves to underline the lack of direction within the departments of the County Council.
Surely our elected representatives can take a controlling grip of this waste? At present we seem to have a County Council run and directed by unelected officers who answer to no-one but themselves.
The money wasted on this resurfacing of the whole width of both carriageways would have been far better spent in repairing the streets and footpaths of the side roads within the village and properly clearing the blocked drains alongside Sandholme Road and Clementhorpe Road.
Perhaps also digging up the "potted" dyke at the East side of Clementhorpe and renewing the pipes which are according to plans allegedly 18" diameter but if you look into the manholes in front of the village hall are only 7" and in any case half full of roadside grit
In response to John in Gilberdyke:
As someone who regularly uses the B1230, and has, before today, suffered damage to tyres due to raised/sunken ironworks as the road surface around them deteriorates, I actually applaud ERYC Highways department for the work they have done so far on this stretch of road.
I am however concerned with the finish of the surface which is almost glass-like.
Whilst fuel efficient (I get an extra 7mpg on this stretch) it is highly reflective during wet conditions and if headlights are required the result is dazzle.
I also have reservations as to the grip available via the surface should it be covered with frost or a fall of snow. If it acts as it looks, I can see it being responsible for a good few 'fender benders' as the weather worsens.
Now onto the remainder of the article.
As we all know, the B1230 used to be the A63 main link road before the motorway came into being and it was downgraded to 'B' road status. Today although to a lesser degree, it still performs that 'A' road function whenever there is a closure of the motorway for some reason. When that happens, traffic is diverted via the B1230(the recent M/way resurfacing /improvements being a case in point).
Reducing it's carrying potential further to realise some misguided feeling of a 'local utopia' is, in my view, counter productive. At the moment you have a good road designed to cope with heavy traffic. Reduce that capacity and you run the risk of creating more problems than you solved. Not to mention increasing the incidence of stupid driving by local lunatics.
These numpties seem oblivious to any speed limits or rules of the road as they race to be the first to turn left down Thornton Dam or Scalby Lane.
We have already seen the speed limit being reduced to 30 where once it was 40. The carriageway has also been reduced by way of paint. Creating an unnecessary traffic bottleneck whenever anyone gets stuck behind the obligatory (due to the farming culture of the area)slow moving tractor.
The reason given for the speed limit change and the excess of road paint is to protect schoolchildren from traffic.
Are we not teaching the kids road sense these days? Whatever happened to the Green Cross Code?
Must we always dumb down to accommodate lack of common sense in the population?
Are schools these days open 24/7 365 days a year?
No?
Then why do we always insist on restricting traffic 24/7 365 days a year in the vicinity of schools?
I'm 54 years old and I cannot remember a time when the area was EVER a "peaceful oasis of dwellings in a rural setting".
Dreams are fine, but we must live in reality, and here, dreams are not always conducive with the way we live our lives. Population is expanding and with it so must our towns and villages...as the old saying goes...'You cannot fit a quart into a pint pot'..and whilst growth will undoubtedly put some noses out of joint, it is a by-product of progress.
I'm afraid however much we try to stave off progress, in the end we must succumb to progress' demands and consign dreams of "peaceful oases of dwellings in a rural setting" to history.
Blutracker is entitled to his opinion but Gilberdyke is equally entitled to some peace and quiet. As regards the safety of the new surfaces, we had a pile up at the Wards hotel junction a couple of mornings ago. Strange that it happened in short order after the installation of the anti skid surface isn't it?
"peaceful oases of dwellings in a rural setting"
What a load of horsesh!t.
We live "over" the bridge in what used to be Staddlethorpe before it was forgotten about. Nobody gives a flying f%ck about this side of the bridge. Industrial estate which should be bulldozed now as its fallen flat on its arse, no footpath thats not covered in dogsh!t, thats where there is a footpath. The bloke that sweeps the roads turns round before he gets to this side. But not to worry its at the other side of the bridge, you in the village cant see it so its out of sight, out of mind.
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