On 3 September, Herts County Council published proposals to implement a ‘One Way’ restriction for the entire length of Cemetery Road, new ‘No Waiting At Any Time’ (double yellow line) waiting restrictions on a specified length of Cemetery Road and a No Left Turn & No Right Turn on Scott Road, Bishop’s Stortford. These measures are to facilitate the safe movement of cycles along Cemetery Road and would form a key section of a new cycle route linking St James’ Park (and Thorley Park) to the town centre.
The proposals were first drafted back in 2021 as part of an offsite sustainable travel plan for the development of the St James’ Park development in Thorley. This ‘southern cycle route’ is supported by the Town Council’s Sustainable Transport sub-committee on which the BSDFA is represented. However, like many local residents, although we support the objective of making Cemetery Road a safe space for cyclists we do have concerns regarding the proposal’s details.
Our view is that this proposal should not be viewed in isolation and must take into account other potential developments elsewhere in the town such as the pedestrianisation of South Street and/or North Street (permanently or on selected days/times). A safe cycling space can be achieved through the removal of parking along the length of Cemetery Road together with the introduction of appropriate traffic calming measures, junction improvements and, perhaps a reduced speed limit. The implementation of a one way system in all likelihood would just create problems elsewhere in the town particularly Scott Road and should be avoided.
The deadline for responding to this proposal is Friday, 20 September. The BSDFA will be responding and would be grateful to hear your views before we do so.
I would want to know the following:
1 If this was implemented what measures are in place to restrict
the extra traffic in Scott Road and Piggots Way.
2 With both roads being used as a learner driver and test route and having schools en route this will put children in danger as a lot of drivers seem to use this route as a race track.