Up to £63K could be spent to improve safety on busy Kenilworth road

By James Smith 20th Dec 2022

The 30mph speed limit could be moved 240 metres further down Warwick Road (image via google.maps)
The 30mph speed limit could be moved 240 metres further down Warwick Road (image via google.maps)

The town council could spend up to £62,750 moving a 30mph speed limit 240 metres down a busy Kenilworth road.

Kenilworth Town Council has already spent £10,000 on a study into making Warwick Road safer and connecting residents of the new Pavilions estate to the rest of the town.

The survey found that the housing developer - Bovis Homes - should have already installed more street lights along the road.

It also found nearly £450,000 is available through section 106 agreements to provide cycling routes from the estate to St John's roundabout.

And at the council's latest finance and general services committee, members unanimously backed a recommendation to move the 30mph speed limit further down the road and possibly install speed cushions along it.

The scheme will now go to full council for approval and a public consultation would be held before any works start.

"It is not just an enhancement for the entrance to the estate," Cllr Rik Spencer said at the meeting.

"It is enhancing the lives of the people who live on that section of the road."

Possible changes to the 30mph speed limit on Warwick Road (image via Kenilworth Town Council)

The Warwick Road project follows a petition submitted to Warwickshire County Council by local residents calling on members to "see sense" and move the 30mph speed limit past the entrance to the estate.

Residents also called for more street lighting and better cycling provision.

Cllr Spencer said extending the 30mph limit could begin as early as April 2023 if things move quickly.

"This is the ceiling price," he added.

"We have added a bit because I do not want to be embarrassed that if this council were to proceed and say 'yes we are going to do this' I do not want to find myself in the embarrassing situation of coming back cap in hand asking for more money.

"I am 99.997 per cent certain that you will have change from that. But I would rather under promise and over deliver."

Councillors were fully supportive of the scheme and said it was a good use of CIL funding - although some raised questions as to why the infrastructure had not been provided when the estate was first built.

Cllr James Kennedy said: "I am absolutely supportive of the proposal. 

"But looking back at when we looked at planning permission at the outline stage for developments like this, why in all the planning are things like this not included? 

"Why is it left to us as the town council, not a planning authority, to make up for the shortfall that should have been there right from the beginning.

"It is unfortunate but it is good that we have got the money."

     

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