WE READ with interest your article in the Gazette last week titled (Talks on Transport Plan, page 3) and want to join with you to strongly encourage the public to read the Local Transport Plan (LTP) and make their opinions known.

Whilst we are delighted the LTP acknowledges the B4066 is not currently fit for purpose, we are concerned that plans are merely noted as ‘improvements’ to it including a roundabout linking it to the A38. We were also dismayed to see the road referred to as a ‘corridor’!

There are currently 70 households living along this road coping every day with a convoy of lorries ranging from delivery vans to 40 ton HGV's with trailers, cement mixers and metal recycling lorries.

The speed limit is currently set at 40mph which is too fast and is often ignored – our community speed watch teams have recorded cars doing upwards of 70mph.

This is a residential area and we can no longer cope with this amount of traffic let alone a further 6,000 vehicle movements per day which is a modest estimate of what would be generated following further development in Berkeley and Sharpness.

Our suggestion is that the money currently earmarked for these ‘improvements’, along with further moneys from housing developers and businesses proposing to locate in the area, would be better spent on a new, fit for purpose, bypass to the A38 which would take the traffic away from Alkington Lane and the stretch of the B4066 between Mobley and Berkeley Heath and would also provide a safe and efficient transport link not only for residents, but also for visitors and businesses.

The current proposals in the LTP do not tackle the fundamental issue we currently face which is that the B4066 and Alkington Lane should not be used as major transport routes.

Mike Hill

Chairman

Berkeley Triangle Action Group