A KEY meeting between highway chiefs, county councillors and local MPs on traffic flow in and around Redditch and Studley is being held on Friday, in Studley village hall.
The aim is to thrash out the impact of the new Redditch Eastern Gateway industrial estate on the A435 at Gorcott Hill and also to attempt to ease the ever growing burden of heavy goods vehicles travelling through local villages.
Around the table will be Redditch MP Rachel Maclean, Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi, representatives from Warwickshire and Worcestershire county councils, district and borough councillors as well as councillor Paul Beaman the chairman of Studley parish council.
He said: “What I’m looking for is a solution to the problems facing not just Studley but Sambourne, Mappleborough Green and Coughton.
“Traffic is going up all the time and nothing is being done to counter it.
“I’m hoping we are going to hear some recommendations on how we overcome the situation we are facing.”
The Redditch Eastern Gateway development has been hailed as ‘a game changer’ for the town, bringing up to 2,500 new jobs to the area.
However, situated just off the A435 and lying in Bromsgrove and Stratford district, it is likely much of the traffic heading north to it will run through Coughton, Studley and Mappleborough Green.
While Redditch is well provisioned with dual carriageways, the same can’t be said for the Warwickshire villages.
“Anyone walking along the A435 in Studley is taking their lives in their hands with HGVs passing just two foot away,” said Coun Beaman.
Suggestions could include introducing a weight restriction along the road forcing lorry drivers to find alternative routes, but Coun Beaman said it was important not to solve the problem by shifting it elsewhere.
He also questioned the viability of introducing average speed cameras between Mappleborough and Coughton.
“The cameras at Spernall are one of the biggest earners in the country yet they do not deter the traffic and clearly we want to get that traffic out of the village altogether,” he said.
