Residents' red card to Tamworth football traffic
EXCESSIVE football traffic is causing a weekend nightmare for residents.
People living in Old Tamworth Road, in Tamworth, say they have suffered years of heavy and speeding traffic – and are now calling for measures to halt the problem.
They say the problem is caused as drivers take a short cut through the road – ignoring a signed route – to football pitches at Anker Valley playing fields.
Residents' spokesman Rob Need said: "It is a small road not built for heavy traffic.
"People are using it as a short cut to the ground and during a weekend it's horrendous."
He said the road only had a pavement on one side, several cats had been killed on the street – and one elderly resident had been too afraid to leave the house on a Sunday because of the dangers.
"It is the volume and the speed of the traffic," Mr Need said. "I was also nearly knocked over.
"It might take someone knocked over or a fatality, which sounds bad, before they will do anything about it.
"All the residents are pretty fed up with it really."
The traffic is being blamed on those travelling to junior football matches, played as part of the Tamworth Junior and Tamworth Sunday Leagues.
"I'm in the process of communicating with the council's deputy leader Jeremy Oates to highlight the issue," Mr Need said.
"We just want to highlight the issue; perhaps try and get the road turned one way."
Councillor Evelyn Rowe, for Amington Ward, said the issue had been raised at a recent Partners and Communities Together meeting.
She said: "Residents of Moor Lane, Amington, and surrounding areas again complained of the disruption to their daily living environment caused by the excess of traffic using Moor Lane to access the football ground.
"Despite some speed humps, fans speed along this very narrow lane, endangering not only resident pedestrians but also their pets."
She added: "There is no footpath and, in view of the narrow width of the lane, no refuge from vehicles using the lane, many of which are large 4X4s."
The problem occurs every Saturday and Sunday between 9.30am and 10.30am.
She added: "There are signs directing football traffic along another route but these signs are for the most part ignored."
Comments
by andy morris, tamworth
Tuesday, March 23 2010, 10:07AM
“I would like to reply to Mr Needs letter ref the traffic travelling to Anker Valley on a Saturday and Sunday morning, what evidence has he got that the cars using The Old Tamworth Road as a shortcut are responsible for the death of the cats, as far as I¿m aware cats tend roam freely both during the day and night¿s or are cats trained differently where Mr Needs Live, as foe the sign posts as was not aware the highway code had been changed so that it was compulsory to follow signpost, I pay road tax so that I can use any public road. I however do agree that the council do need to look into the road issue down moor lane, as I¿ve been stuck in traffic trying to getting into Anker Valley for long periods of time so it must be a nightmare for the residents who live there.”