"Over 40 people aged between 5 and 75 attended the Race Night at Hopwood Village Hall which helped raise funds towards the maintenance of the building.
Participation was the key to a successful evening with many attendees having a go at being a jockey and enjoying a modest flutter on their favourite horse.
18TH November 2008.
The meeting will be held at the Community Centre on the 18th November at 4pm. In attendance so far I have; Lucy Thornton WPC. for the parish, Jon Fraser- Highways, Cllr. George Lord from County Hall. Still got a couple of people to get in touch with, but it's holiday time for some. I want to set up an agenda for the meeting so that we cover all aspects of the A441 through Hopwood. So I want experiences, photos, whatever to put our case forward.
Report from Debbie Brown about the meeting:-
A meeting was held on Tuesday 18th November at the Community Centre in Hopwood for residents to discuss their concerns of living with the ever increasing traffic problems that the A441 brings to residents, drivers and walkers who use this road.
A good turn out of 40 plus residents attended this meeting, despite it being held in the afternoon.
In attendance were an invited panel of Cllr. George Lord and Jon Fraiser from the council and Sgt.Tim Harper, WPC Lucy Thornton & Ian Connolly from West Midlands police. Cllrs.Sid Caddick & Cllr. Debbie Brown were also in attendance.
Concerns raised by residents included the speed of vehicles coming down the hill from Birmingham ready to access the M42. After having been in stop/go traffic from the city they see an open road and put their foot down , unaware they are entering a small residential village. Heavy haulage traffic thunders down the hill into Hopwood on its way to the M42. This traffic will increase when the Longbridge site is finished.
Apart from the speed;
Residents and visitors from The Rise & the Village Hall face difficulties from overtaking traffic when turning in and out of the exits there.Traffic density at busy times makes it difficult to accesses the A441 from adjacent roads and properties.
Hazards face drivers when turning into and out of the narrow exit of Bitten Lane and Canal Side.
The heavy and large lorries now using May Field Farm throughout the day and night require the full width of the A441 when turning in & out of Canal Side.
Many minor accidents occur at the junction of Ash Lane / the service station / Hopwood House pub. Drivers take no notice of the road signage here increasing the dangers at this junction.The speeding traffic is unaware of the Ash Lane turning and that they are entering the main part of the village. Drivers are unaware that this is the main crossing point for pedestrians and make no allowance for pedestrian trying to cross from one side of the A441 to the other.
Foot paths are impassable and in some places non-existent. The path up to the Village Hall being particularly bad due to its close proximity, right next. to the speeding lorries. The back draft from the articulated lorries come close to knocking you off your feet.
Residents have asked for grit bins to be placed on the hill where the A441 crosses the canal. During winter months the ice on this road creates hazards for lorries and residents using The Drive.
All these points were put to the panel for consideration. Bearing in mind that other areas of the parish have received traffic calming measures over the last few years, residents of Hopwood have seen the traffic increase heavily with no action to ensure the safety of the readdress in our village
.
In the next 12 months our village will grow by 30% with the possibility of 40 plus children crossing the A441 to access school buses and to use the playing fields. So it is important the the dangers of this road are addressed as soon as possible.
The panel agreed that there were no plans to reposition the A441 when the Longbridge regeneration scheme is finished and that the primary route for this extra traffic would be directed along the A38.
The panel have agreed to work with the parish council to explore possible solutions and to do an assessment to look into the feasibility of:
Installing a gateway into Hopwood to indicate to traffic they are entering a residential rural environment.
Put in activated signs that alert drivers to the speed limit.
Painting blocked chevrons in the centre of the road to stop overtaking.
Reviewing the crossing facilities on the road.
and
undertaking an inspection of all footpaths and pavements.
On behalf of the APC and all residents at the meeting we thanked Cllr.George Lord and the officers for coming along and their willingness to help
A special thank you to Chris Foster who contacted the parish council to ask what could be done about the dangers this road posses to all users.
