by Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporting Service.
MORE 20mph zones could be on the way for Dorchester.
The options to be considered include a blanket lower speed limit for all county town roads.
Dorchester Town Council has now set up a working group to look at the issues after complaints from some residents about piecemeal efforts over recent years.
Only a handful of roads in Dorchester have a 20mph limit with some areas still keen to see a lower limit for where they live.
Town Clerk Steve Newman says a Task and Finish Group has now been set up by the authority following a request from the council’s Planning and Environment Committee to look at the issues and best approach to take for applications.
One of the places where residents are currently pressing for the lower speed limit is Lubbecke Way, on the route to the town’s outdated and over-stretched tip, a road which also services several businesses and homes.
People living in the road, on the eastern edge of the town, complain of frequent speeding by both car and van drivers and HGVs outside their homes – pointing out that the road has access to the town’s youth centre, has a home for elderly residents and is frequently crossed by children making their way to the river, a popular area to play.
Among the other Dorchester roads to have 20mph limits the most prominent is at the western end of Coburg Road, the route to Dorchester Middle School, the town’s Sports Centre and Thomas Hardye senior school used by thousands of children each day – although the speed limit is frequently exceeded, according to people who live there, despite the presence of speed bumps and pinch points.
Fordington High Street also has a 20mph zone, also enforced by speed bumps and pinch points, although new legislation says there is no longer a need for physical measures for routes to be considered.
East Ward councillor Stella Jones said Lubbecke Way residents first asked for a lower speed limit for the road in 2017 but were “fobbed off” by what was then Dorset County Council.
“Not only are there people crossing the road, but further down there are no pavements at all, forcing people into the road. It is still very dangerous,” said Cllr Jones at the planning and environment committee earlier this year.
Residents have told the town council that the traffic danger is added to by parked vehicles which results in drivers having to reverse to let others through – and say if speed restrictions are not agreed, Dorset Council ought to consider removing the household recycling centre.
Poundbury councillor David Leaper has called for his area to also be considered for a 20mph limit, claiming that a speed indicator device on the roads know as ‘the Peverells’, the spine road through the centre of the development, clocked many vehicles over 30mph, including at least one at 60mph.
As with Lubbecke Way, Peverell Avenue East also has an elderly person’s development, and the Great Field which people frequently cross the road to get to, together with Damers School, businesses, churches and meeting rooms.
Cllr Robin Potter says he would prefer to see the whole town designated as a 20mph zone: “But I fear that would see Dorset Council push it into the long grass and we might be better to start with Lubbecke Way and see how that works out,” he told the planning and environment committee.
