Shropshire Star

Anger over one-way plan for Shropshire village road

Developers hoping to build 19 homes in a Shropshire village have revealed plans to introduce a one-way system in the area.

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If councillors approve the development off Chapel Lane in Norton-in-Hales, the village near Market Drayton could see new traffic regulations in a bid to make the roads safer for schoolchildren.

But residents have hit out at developers Balfours over the plans, which they say will lead to an increase in traffic.

The parish council said that the main route to Market Drayton is too dangerous because of visibility issues to accommodate any more homes.

Councillors said the roads were too narrow to safely take any more traffic, and that it was already dangerous during peak times, with parents operating an informal one-way system during school times.

But developers have since come back to the council with plans to formalise the one-way system around the village, as well as suggestions to widen footpaths – with the applicant making a £30,000 contribution. And with the new plans put forward, residents have objected to the scheme which they say is "totally impractical".

Richard Walton said that the proposed traffic system would actually increase the traffic passing by the school.

He said: "Residents who currently can exit the village directly when heading for Market Drayton would be forced to go round the whole of the one-way system passing by the school, the pub, the residents on Audlem Road and most dangerously the residents of Chapel Lane where the road is particularly narrow.

"The one-way system would not only add extra traffic volume forced around this route, but also encourage higher speeds, which of course would lead to a far more dangerous situation overall."

David Rigby, also objecting, said that the informal one-way system seems to work as it is. He said that a permanent and continuous system could give agricultural vehicles and trucks a dangerous task in negotiating the junctions they can currently avoid.

He added: "The additional vehicles generated by the proposed developments would combine with the above factor to produce chaotic road utilization."

And with an application for 14 houses off Main Road in the village granted at the end of September, many residents have said the combined increase in traffic could be devastating.

In the same meeting of Shropshire's north planning committee, councillors decided to refuse a third application for another 14 homes off Bearstone Road because of the "cumulative effect" multiple proposals could have on the village. The plans were set to be discussed by parish councillors last night.

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