Second consultation on Shellmor Avenue traffic proposals

Proposed ban on left turn into Shellmor Avenue, Patchway

South Gloucestershire Council has started a second consultation on traffic management measures proposed to be implemented in Shellmor Avenue, Stoke Lodge.

The Council ran its first consultation in October/November 2011, when local residents were asked to decide which of five proposals they preferred – ranging from completely blocking of Shellmor Avenue at its junction with the A38 Gloucester Road to doing nothing.

The most popular option, announced at the Southern Brooks Area Forum meeting on Tuesday 29th November, turned out to be ‘option 1’ – which involves prohibiting the left turn off Gloucester Road into Shellmor Avenue but still permitting traffic to turn out onto the main road.

The project was duly awarded £15k of funding by the Area Forum, to also include “investigation works to improve the Stoke Lane/Shellmor Avenue junction to improve the access”.

The latest consultation, bizarrely presented as “a consultation on consultation results”, gives residents a further chance to comment on the ‘option 1’ proposals.

Further details of responses to the first consultation have also been published, revealing that although ‘option 1’ was the most popular choice with 40.7% of the vote, ‘option 4’ (introduce traffic calming in Shellmor Avenue) also scored highly at 32%.

We also learn that the majority of the comments received in the first consultation made reference to the Stoke Lane/Shellmor Avenue junction stating that the junction needed to be improved because of difficulty of the alignment especially for vehicles turning left into Shellmor Avenue.

The issue was also discussed at the January meeting of the Patchway Safer and Stronger Community Group, where one resident highlighted potential problems for caravan owners living in Shellmor Avenue should the left turn off Gloucester Road be prohibited. The alternative route involved a very sharp left turn at the Stoke Lane mini-roundabout, it was observed.

The latest consultation runs until Saturday 31st March 2012.