RESIDENTS of a south Warwickshire village are so fed up with being fobbed off in their attempts to crack down on speeding traffic that they’ve called a public meeting to vent their anger.
The problem of vehicles being driven too fast along the A4189 Henley to Warwick road through Claverdon has been bothering local people for years, but they say all attempts to get the county highways department to introduce measures to slow them down have failed.
Claverdon Parish Council has even “ring-fenced” £10,000 of its own taxpayer-funded money to pay towards the cost of reducing the speed of vehicles hurtling through the village. But the highways authority at Shire Hall has still refused to sanction the necessary action.
As a result – and in sheer frustration – a public meeting has been organised for Saturday 18th January to let residents have their say. The meeting will be from 11.30am to 1.30pm at Claverdon Church Cen-tre. Among those attending will be Stratford MP Manuela Perteghella.
This week Ken Flood, Claverdon’s parish clerk, told the Herald that there were 1,309 people living in the village and dealing with the menace of speeding was a top priority for them. Furthermore, residents supported the parish council’s willingness to provide hard cash to tackle the problem.
“This meeting is about making it clear to the powers that be that people are behind this and that this is important to them,” he said.
The most prominent driving force behind the campaign to clamp down on speeding is Claverdon resident Steve Lister. “The residents of Claverdon have had an issue with speed for over ten years and repeatedly Warwickshire County Council has completely ignored their requests for any speed calming initiatives,” he told the Herald this week.
Steve moved to Claverdon from Solihull two years ago. He wanted to be part of the community so he attended a meeting of the parish council. “I was asked to pick up and add some new focus and energy to the concerns over speeding through the village,” he said.
“I accepted this role and joined the speed awareness team and was given the back story of what the issues were and how many years they had been trying to achieve something, but to no avail.”
He met a lot of people who were vocal about the speed at which all vehicles passed through the village – not just cars, but coaches and lorries.
“They said that the elderly residents can’t walk to the community shop for fear of being ‘blown over’ by the wind caused by these huge vehicles, and children can’t ride their bikes as it’s just too dangerous,” he said. “Parents even drive their children to the local school, coach pick-ups and trains because the roads do not support safe walking.”
Since then he’s been involved in a relentless campaign to get the authorities to introduce measures to deal with the problem – but says all he gets is the brush off. He’s even had face-to-face talks with highways officials at Shire Hall.
He said that at one point the officials described the A4189 as “a fast road but not a dangerous road”. Many options were discussed and suggestions included speed cameras, speed limit reductions, speed humps, speed chicanes (road narrowing, allowing right of way from one direction) and illuminated speed signage. All were declined.
Steve added: “It ended up with them saying that there were ‘not enough traffic accidents or fatalities to change anything’ and recommended we get speed data to prove our case to reduce speeds.”
A speed data survey was conducted in December 2023 – at the parish’s own expense – and it found that 51 per cent of all vehicles were exceeding the designated speed limits. In one of the worst findings, 84 per cent of all vehicles eastbound on Station Road towards Warwick were over the 40mph speed limit and 359 of them were travelling at more than 61mph.
“Interestingly, Warwickshire highways only look at average, mean data – and 1mph over the speed limit is not classed as speeding,” Steve said. “It’s all about enforceable speed. For example, speeding in a 50mph zone is only taken seriously when it’s 50mph plus ten per cent plus 2mph – resulting in a speed of 57 per cent.”
In May last year a second meeting with highways officials took place and again all suggestions to reduce speed through the village were rejected.
Steve added: “The speeds continue, the crashes continue and we are being constantly ignored. We have to live with the consequences every day in the village and it’s too easy for people to just dismiss us time and time again.”
He said the public meeting had been called because residents had had enough. Ms Perteghella had immediately accepted her invitation and district and county councillors would also be present. But so far there was no indication that officials from Warwickshire’s highways department would be attending.
In response to Claverdon residents’ concerns, Cllr Jan Matecki, the county council’s portfolio holder for transport and planning, told the Herald: “With a limited budget the county council has to prioritise any roadwork adaption to the highway, based on risks as indicated by the data.
“This stretch of highway does not currently have the history of accidents or of injuries for it to be among our priority schemes. However, if funding can be identified for it we would be delighted to work with residents and the local parish council to facilitate a scheme that may help to address the safety concerns of local residents.”
Mark Ryder, the county council’s executive director for communities’ directorate, added: “What I would always advise community groups in situations such as this is to speak to their local county councillor.
“Each member has a delegated budget which can add additional support to help to resolve local issues. Officers can advise members in what the most effective solutions would be and see what is affordable and practical within that available budget.”