Horton Road concerns raised at parish council meeting

Dozens of people attended the St Leonard’s and St Ives Parish Council meeting on Wednesday evening to call for change at Horton Road.

The matter was brought to the meeting agenda by the Horton Road Action Group, formed by residents following a fatal collision on the road last month.

Speaking at the meeting, group member and resident Andy Hill said: “We all want to make sure that Horton Road is not only safe for us residents, but also for business owners and visitors.”

Other residents went on to share their concerns about Horton Road, which included speeding vehicles, high volumes of traffic and “aggressive” overtaking.

It was also noted expansion to Woolsbridge Industrial Estate meant more HGVs were using the road, and this was reportedly causing “major problems”.

A resident of Woolsbridge Road spoke about a “cluster of hazards” between One Stop and Horton Road’s junction with Woolsbridge Road.

Horton Road (Image: NQ)

She told the committee: “Along this stretch alone, three walls have been knocked down, a bus stop has been hit, a car nearly careered through the front of a maisonette, streetlights hit, electricity pylons hit, multiple accidents and near misses, and now unfortunately a fatality.

“For this amount of accidents to occur within such a small stretch it cannot all be down to driver error.”

St Leonards and St Ives ward councillor Ray Bryan assured residents he was taking the matter “extremely seriously”.

He said at the meeting: “We have to make Horton Road safe once and for all. This has gone on too long. This now needs to stop.

“And one thing I will give you an assurance on is that I will do everything in my power to get this sorted."

Cllr Bryan added he had put in a request to look at the “whole link between the Ashley heath Roundabout and Three Legged Cross”, and had put pressure on National Highways to consider a new link road to the A31.

He told the residents: “I will keep the pressure on. But we do need to shift the traffic from what is a small rural road to something that is built for it.”

Tony Burden, road safety manager at Dorset Council, said that a 30mph speed limit would be considered for Horton Road.

He added that he had asked for a speed survey to be conducted in the area.

Dorset police and crime commissioner David Sidwick and neighbourhood police sergeant Steve Payne were also in attendance at the meeting.

Mr Payne acknowledged there are no speed cameras currently recording along Horton Road, explaining cameras were only active in places where information is received about speeders.

He told the residents: “We are not getting reports through to the police. What you are saying about speeders today, you need to report it.”

Mr Payne then discussed having the Community Speed Watch initiative implemented in Horton Road.

Mr Sidwick also mentioned the new Auto Speed Watch Cameras being rolled out across Dorset, noting it as a possible option. 

The debate into Horton Road is set to continue, and will be be discussed by the parish council again once a speeding report has been made available.