The following statement was published by West Deeping Parish Council in March 2020. I have added some hyperlinks for convenience of readers….

West Deeping Parish Council Statement

Over the past year, the Parish Council has been consulting with the appropriate authorities and have been in discussions with Graeme Butler, LCC Road Safety (Accident Investigation) Manager, representing the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership (LRSP) over safety concerns at the junction of King Street and the A1175.

We have been advised that each location is prioritised according to collisions reported and their budget is targeted towards these. The top 10 locations have a range of 13 – 24 collisions over a 5 year period compared to 6 reported at this junction. Consequently, as of April 2019, we were number 91 on the priority list.

However, we pursued this further with Graeme, and he visited the site on 23rd October 2019 and met with Cllrs Maggie Ashcroft, Colin Blagrove, Sue Latham and David Ward. During the visit, he said that he would arrange for a safety specialist to look into the concerns that were raised.  In addition, a report to Highways was submitted to repair the damaged traffic signs on the island at the junction.

Following this meeting, Graeme passed on our concerns to Lincolnshire County Council’s Head of Planning, who confirmed that meetings have been held between the Planning Department and Cemex to discuss their plans over the forthcoming months and years at the King Street site (eastern side) near the junction. When a formal planning application is submitted for future development to any of the gravel quarry sites using King Street, West Deeping Parish Council will have the opportunity to comment, at the same time as the Planning Department will make its input, taking into account our concerns. 

When we met with him, Graeme also commented on the possibility of a roundabout at the junction and confirmed that there is often a misconception that this may solve collisions totally. Accident statistics suggest that roundabouts do not prevent collisions. For example, the roundabout at the A16 has seen 9 collisions in the last 5 years with 5 at the roundabout in Market Deeping (Market Place).

On 9^th March 2020, it has been confirmed by LRSP that the reactive signs at the junction are being reset to ensure that they trigger at a lower speed and that the LCC Street Lighting Team have orders in place with the contractor to repair signs and lighting at the junction by the end of March.

LRSP have also recommended to us that it both important and courteous to ensure that our local county councillor, Rosemary Trollope-Bellew, is kept informed of all discussions on this subject.

The Parish Council believes that road safety is of paramount importance.  It will continue to work with the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership in respect of this matter and be guided by them to try and find the optimum solution for everyone in the future.

West Deeping Parish Council

March 2020