Our candidate for KCC South Division, Jeremy Clapham, is working with the local campaigning group that wants to introduce traffic calming measures on Frant Road which is a major artery leading from near the Pantiles up to the border with East Sussex.
Twenty years ago it was pretty quiet, but today it is plagued by traffic speeding up and down, and in particular Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) that can’t use the Eridge Road due to the Spa Valley Railway bridge hammer down through the tight spaces left as residents try to get out of their houses, cross the road to the TN2 shop, or pick up their children from the Mead School.
There is a speed camera near the top, but traffic revs up again after getting through it.
T-junctions with Bayham Road and Forest Road are busy, and are risky to drive out of, or cross the road near to.
To cap it all, a proposal for 400 houses on the rugby pitches at the top of the road will lead to saturation of the road and its junctions at peak times.
Proposals
Ideas that are taking hold include:
A mini roundabout at the junction with Bayham Road.
A second speed camera just above the Mead School.
There is a pressing safety need to rebuild the kerb on the pavement going down from the Mead School to the Pantiles, as the pavement has been pressed down to road level by parking cars and lorries, and there is now nothing to stop wayward traffic hitting pedestrians.
Although the road had a complete resurfacing three years ago, it is already covered in patches from gas and water works, and about 25 two-inch diameter holes left by the gas company are starting to change into potholes.
Green representation on KCC could make these proposals become a reality.