Glaziers Lane
Glaziers Lane is an unclassified road (D60) and is unsuitable for the volume of traffic that the proposed development would generate together with additional traffic going to and from the school. The Lane is a rural, residential road, just 6 metres wide at the widest point, with a 30mph speed limit throughout its length.
The Lane is a busy commuter route for cars, commercial vehicles, lorries, multi-axle heavy goods vehicles and articulated lorries travelling between the A323 Guildford to Aldershot Road and the A3 and A31. Many of these vehicles fail to adhere to the speed limit. The street lighting in Glaziers Lane is poor and could at best be described as footpath lighting. Towards the southern end of the Lane is a humpback road bridge over the railway line, which has a sharp incline and decline so that on approach there is no view of the other side of the bridge. The bridge is also on a slight, but deceptive, double bend in the road. At this point the Lane narrows to 5.5 metres, slightly under in places. This is an especially dangerous part of the Lane as cars speed towards the bridge from both directions, with no view of the other side. The roadway of the bridge is badly sunken on both sides due to the weight of the heavy goods vehicles crossing the bridge.
At the northern end of the Lane is the junction with the A323 Guildford to Aldershot Road, where Glaziers Lane crosses over to Hunts Hill Road. This is a difficult junction to negotiate owing to the amount of traffic travelling along the main road, and also because there are cars turning right out of Glaziers Lane on to the main road, cutting across the path of cars coming across from Hunts Hill Road, with both sets of drivers attempting to find a gap in the main road traffic. There is often a tail-back of traffic in Glaziers Lane waiting to exit.
The single footpath along the Lane is not continuous, changing from side to side of the road along its length. This means that pedestrians have to cross the road at various points in order to remain on the footpath, with two exceptionally dangerous crossing points which are poorly maintained by SCC. One is by the stream just south of no. 35 Glaziers Lane, on a sharp bend, which means that pedestrians have a poor view of vehicles approaching both directions along the Lane, and drivers of these vehicles cannot clearly see the pedestrians until the last moment.
The other dangerous crossing point is on the north of the road bridge that crosses the railway line, as vehicles approaching from the south only have a short stopping distance after crossing the summit of the ‘blind’ bridge before arriving at the crossing point. These crossing points are especially dangerous for those in wheelchairs, the elderly and infirm, and parents/carers with pushchairs or prams, who require more time to cross the road. At some points the footpath is reduced to a width of much less than a metre, due to the outward growth of hedges meaning that passing pedestrians often have to walk in the road. A build-up of debris where the kerbs are lowered at the crossing points also means that pedestrians have to move on to the road to avoid the mud.
The railway station is situated close to the southern side of the humpback bridge and has limited space for car parking, which will be insufficient for the proposed increase in vehicle numbers. Cars parking instead on Glaziers Lane would add to the hazards that already exist.
Traffic exiting the station car park and turning north has a tight turning circle in order to keep on the correct side of the road and is vulnerable to vehicles speeding over the bridge south bound with limited views of the approaching traffic. The increased volume of cars using the station car park would add considerably to the dangers. This bridge would be hazardous for cyclists travelling to and from the school.
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‘Limited Infilling’ in Normandy and Flexford
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Report from 2023 NAG AGM
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