Traffic and the A19 in Burn
95 ALIVE
Speeding in Burn? What speeding? According to police, there is not a speeding problem in our village.
Despite the findings described in the article below, members of the parish council were told recently that the village does not have enough accidents or casualties to be considered a speed-check priority area.
The parish council has asked police again to carry out further speed checks and we have asked for another black-box traffic survey. But we need residents’ help in making that happen.
You can download a form from the 95 Alive campaign which was introduced in 1994 to make York and North Yorkshire’s roads safer – and the more people who fill in a form, the more chance we have of getting police action, so please ask every adult (over 18) to complete their own.
Once completed, please return to your nearest parish councillor or hand in at The Wheatsheaf for us to collect and send all together to North Yorkshire Police traffic management office.
Traffic in Burn – A History
A survey undertaken in Burn in the autumn of 2008, following the opening of the A63 Selby by-pass in 2004, revealed a considerable increase in traffic, much of it heavy lorries, on the A19.
More than 12,000 vehicles a day were coming through the village causing constant vibrations in homes, damaging property and quality of life.
A survey of households, carried out by the then newly-formed Burn Residents Action Group (now amalgamated into Burn Parish Council), revealed for the first time some disturbing facts bout traffic and Burn village:
• 87 per cent of residents who replied to the survey did not feel safe walking through their own village
• 87.5 per cent of people living on the A19 felt the traffic levels were spoiling their quality of life
• 98 per cent of the respondents wanted a bypass – that rose to 100 per cent for residents along Main Road
• 95 per cent of people living on the A19 who replied felt ground tremors and all reported traffic vibration in their homes.
In the survey, to which more than 75 per cent of households responded, many residents revealed their homes showed cracks and damage; some said their health was suffering from the noise and stress; and mothers with prams said they were afraid to walk the village.
Villagers’ comments in the survey included:
“A hearse attending a funeral at the chapel had its wing mirror knocked off by a passing vehicle due to too little room and speeding.”
“We’ve had to have triple glazing along the front due to traffic noise and vibration.”
“I am regularly woken at 5am by speeding vehicles. Sitting in the garden is marred by traffic noise, and sitting in the house, feeling the vibrations, causes anxiety and anger. You can feel the lorry vibrations in bed, in the bath and sitting in the lounge – and we are set well back from the road.”
“We’ve had a picture and a mirror fall off the wall in the last six months. We’ve had two cats killed on the road and walking the dog is a nightmare because of the speed and close proximity of the traffic, particularly lorries.”
One of the organisers Bill Hearld (now a Burn Parish Councillor), says: “Traffic through Burn has reached totally unsatisfactory levels and the village has to do something about it. We must have been the only village to have slept through the 2008 earthquake because we get that all day and night.
“The sheer volume and speed of vehicles, especially heavy lorries, along with the poor road surface, have reached a stage where residents are at risk and property is being damaged.”
Another action group leader, Chris Phillipson (currently Chairman, Burn Parish Council), says: “A traffic survey in 2008 showed a 25 per cent increase in the number of vehicles through the village in the four years from 2004 to a volume of nearly 12,000 vehicles a day. A high percentage of these were – and still are – heavy lorries. This figure will now have increased dramatically as sat nav systems show the route through Burn as the most convenient for traffic from the M62 to York and other points beyond, along with increased commuter traffic.”
“The village lost its chance of a by-pass when Yorkshire Forward withdrew a promise of funding, which meant North Yorkshire County Council could not proceed with existing plans for the work. NYCC now says it has no money for a by-pass for Burn and now (2011), with the abolition of Yorkshire Forward, the possibility has faded even further. However, we are involved in discussions on the future of Burn airfield with the relevant authorities and will lobby at every opportunity for any development scheme proposed for the airfield to include a by-pass.
“While some remedial surface work has been carried out more recently, the road surface has not been properly repaired or maintained for 20 years despite the much heavier vehicles and increased volumes and this is contributing to the traffic vibrations.”
Villagers are demanding:
• Money be found for a bypass
• Urgent police action to deter speeding motorists in the 30mph zone
• A new, improved road surface to cut traffic vibrations
• An investigation by the Environment Agency into noise levels and traffic vibrations
More recent surveys involving ‘black box recorders’ have indicated vehicles, including heavy lorries, speeding through the village at more than 50mph in some instances.