No To Baddow Bus Gate

This petition has been reopened as following the delivery of 1500 plus signatures to Essex County Council on 27th August 2017 and again with in excess of 1800 signatures on the 25th January. Essex County Council announced in November that they DO intend to implement the bus gate scheme for an 18 month trial, this has now been reduced to 12 months. http://www.essexhighways.org/highway-schemes-and-developments/major-schemes/chelmsford-city-growth-package.aspx

We need to continue to collect as many signatures as possible from local people to show that this is NOT the right solution!

The proposed bus gate in Baddow road will prevent all vehicles except busses from travelling to the Army and Navy roundabout at peak times, effectively cutting off everyone who lives in or near Baddow Road from having access to the city centre without a long detour. The traffic that will no longer be allowed to travel down Baddow Road will be forced to go through Great Baddow village or Moulsham Lodge, thus increasing the volume of traffic near schools. The bypass is already too busy and has long queues at rush hour plus this will increase with the Manor Farm housing development. For anybody living within the area of Great Baddow between Beehive Lane and the Army & Navy, they will be blocked from entering town along the shortest and fastest route. Local residents will have to travel from the top of Baddow Road all the way back into Great Baddow to join the Baddow Bypass, to then return into Chelmsford area. In terms of pollution, this is forcing people to make much longer journeys. Not everybody is able to catch a bus nor do the busses suit travelling to many places of work as we are not all going into the city.

ECC have yet to announce that they will insist that bus companies operate electric or hybrid vehicles.
I have found the following document https://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/EasySiteWeb/GatewayLink.aspx?alId=25235 which on page 13 states that “HDV class vehicles were found to be contributing over 60% of traffic related NOx despite representing less than 7% of the total vehicle movements in the AQMA. Traffic counts for the roads that link with the Army and Navy Roundabout indicate that the majority of HDVs are public service vehicles (PSVs). In particular, in Baddow Road over 80% of HDVs are PSVs.” Put simply, the busses (PSV’s) are the main cause of pollution! Therefore, if the bus companies were to invest in newer, cleaner vehicles, this would improve air quality without any further need to restrict vehicles.
Having spoken to ECC representatives at two of the consultations, the council does not have any confirmation from the bus companies that more busses would be scheduled nor fares re-examined.
The air quality figures and their manipulation is also dubious, please see pages 4 & 5 https://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/EasySiteWeb/GatewayLink.aspx?alId=25235

A large percentage of traffic will have to take a long detour through the village and down the Baddow by pass, this will result in long queues on the slip road. Please take a look at the Design Stage 2 document http://www.essexhighways.org/uploads/ccgp/ccgp-baddow-road-bus-gate-design-stage-2-report-small.pdf which states that "When additional traffic is added to Essex Yeomanry Way (Baddow Bypass) with Baddow Road closed to general traffic north-west bound, VISSIM modelling suggests that the queue increases".

They then follow this with "but with no significant impact upon average delay because of the altered traffic flow patterns at the
roundabout allowing vehicles to access the roundabout more quickly."

So we will not only have to take a huge detour but also have the "pleasure" of sitting in a longer queue!

Many thanks for your support.

Maxine Jones