At the RGA meeting Tuesday Sept 5th 2023, there was unanimous support at the meeting for a proposal to change the current speed limit signage on Rowney Green Lane from 30mph to 20mph. This document provides the detail in support of this request.

Alvechurch Parish Council Planning and Highways Committee has supported the RGA proposal and our local Neighbourhood Policing Team (through PC Stuart Head) also have no objection to this proposed change in speed limit, which we envisage will be self enforcing and not requiring additional police resources.
However, Worcestershire County Council (WCC) have rejected our request; “the evidence does not support the need for any change to the existing speed limit”. They have provided details of the criteria used for assessing any requests.

The principal obstacle would seem to be that of cost and to justify the anticipated cost there is a set of criteria that need to be met (these include collision history ; mean speed data ; proximity of schools). WCC does not feel that our case meets those criteria.

The RGA has complained to WCC on two points :
a) the apparent failure to understand the nature of our speed signed only request, which will have minimal cost.
b) the process of handling and reporting back the progress of our road safety improvement request has been poor, insensitive and requires improvement.
WCC have rejected our Complaint on both counts.

To continue the campaign to get a 20mph speed limit on Rowney Green Lane, the RGA arranged for our local MP (Bradley Thomas) to visit and see first-hand the variety of hazards faced by users of the lanes and to understand why residents continue request a speed reduction throughout Rowney Green. Mr Thomas was very receptive to the village’s concerns and has since written to WCC’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for Highways and Transport (see letter)

In addition, a review of all the road signage in the village has been undertaken. The findings will be used to to improve driver awareness and the safety of vulnerable road users