Newport Road Tesco Traffic Lights

[The Stafford Beast]

The Petrol station is in completely the wrong place. Short of moving the petrol station not sure what you could do...

I reckon they should move the exit for the petrol station to the main road by making use of the small road at the rear, which is now fenced off. I don't know why they fenced it off, as this was a shortcut to get to Newport Road if you're on a bike. Now you have to go all the way around the petrol station to head up Newport Road.

 

[darben]

I reckon they should move the exit for the petrol station to the main road by making use of the small road at the rear, which is now fenced off. I don't know why they fenced it off, as this was a shortcut to get to Newport Road if you're on a bike. Now you have to go all the way around the petrol station to head up Newport Road.

What you said, I thought that too!

Also someone signed the plans off in the first place, whoever is responsible for this job should be held to account for the complete mess that seems to occur at every new junction in Stafford.

 

[henryscat]

Those signing off the plans may be under constraints like the high likelihood of Tescos winning a planning appeal.

 

[proactive]

Or they may be not very good at their jobs, who knows.

 

[joshua]

It can be very hard to say no: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/the_tesco_takeover.pdf
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1381639014893922585

 

[Gramaisc]

Those signing off the plans may be under constraints like the high likelihood of Tescos winning a planning appeal.

It's surely a simple matter for those that don't like it to stop shopping there. that's the only real 'democracy' that's generally available here. I haven't been in there for two years. If somebody else would import Nigerian Guinness then I wouldn't even have to send the Stafford Beast in there on my behalf..

 

[henryscat]

It's surely a simple matter for those that don't like it to stop shopping there. that's the only real 'democracy' that's generally available here. I haven't been in there for two years. If somebody else would import Nigerian Guinness then I wouldn't even have to send the Stafford Beast in there on my behalf..

Yep, not spending money there en-masse is the only thing they would respond to.

Spose you don't actually have to go there to shop - order on the internet and their delivery vans can have the hassle of escaping the car park....

 

[henryscat]

Or they may be not very good at their jobs, who knows.

The current government are "simplifying" the planning system towards automatic presumption in favour of the developer - expect to see more developments bodged in unsuitable places.

 

[ben0239]

A quick update regarding the issue that I have mentioned above.

I have spoken to Customer Services at Tesco Head Office who confirmed that the lights are the responsibilty of Staffordshire County Council.
The County Council have actually been very helpful and been very insightful. The Council informed me that the Tesco traffic junction was designed by a Private Consultancy and therefore the Council had little input into the intial design.
Up until the recent improvements at the Tesco junction there was 1 crash per month for the first 18 months that the Tesco stores were open. Making the junction the worst in the whole of Staffordshire.

Although the council have made improvements to the Newport road and Tesco junction they are aware that there are still issues with the Tesco's junction and the eagle junction on the top of the hill. The rationale behind the current set up of the lights is to be more pedestrian friendly because there are a large amount of people who cross at the Tesco junction which is why the light is on 'RED' for a longer period of time.
Although the council accept changes could be made to the lights as I have indicated above they do not believe that the gains would be that significant because to access the left filter lane you have to be the third car in the queue on Newport road. On days where there is significant traffic on Newport road the gains would not be significant. However they do acknowledge that there would be gains when traffic is lighter.

The councils approach is instead to try and gain some land from the left hand side of the road to create a larger left hand filter lane which would help the traffic to flow. This is something they are currently looking into.

Ben

 

[Vault_girl]

so they want to buy more land from the chetwynd centre then? I can remember when tescos was a big field...

 

[Gramaisc]

There is a lane for turning right into Randles. which may be superfluous, as the entrance is blocked completely by display cars in the StreetView picture. If it isn't really necessary, then a much longer left filter lane could exist.

Maybe things have changed a bit since these pictures were taken, I avoid the area in general.

 

[My Name is URL]

As big an issue for me is the big car transporter lorries that park on double yellow lines outside the Randles Suzuki / Great Wall dealership, blocking off the left lane (straight up Newport Road) meaning everyone has to go into the right lane (for turning up past the station). This obviously clogs traffic massively if there are a few cars turning right as the filter for turning right is only on for a few seconds. The problem is compounded further because they always seem to do this in rush hour....

Be interested to hear Gemma from Randles' take on this.

 

[Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt]

The current government are "simplifying" the planning system towards automatic presumption in favour of the developer - expect to see more developments bodged in unsuitable places.

Not exactly. The new National Planning Policy Framework has a Presumption in favour of SUSTAINABLE development & so you have missed out a very key part of it. The new planning system although a lot simplier and stripped down still has a great deal of checks and balances associated to help ensure we don't end up with too many bodged developments in unsuitable places. It isn't by any means perfect but is a damn sight better than the system they have in the Rep of Ireland for example that has led to all those "ghost estates"
In terms of Tesco though I do agree with your earlier comment that the fuel station is in the wrong place. Tesco do have form though in terms of messing up junctions - has anyone seen the junction near to the Tescos in Fareham near Portsmouth? Oh my lord.....

 

[henryscat]

Not exactly. The new National Planning Policy Framework has a Presumption in favour of SUSTAINABLE development & so you have missed out a very key part of it. The new planning system although a lot simplier and stripped down still has a great deal of checks and balances associated to help ensure we don't end up with too many bodged developments in unsuitable places. It isn't by any means perfect but is a damn sight better than the system they have in the Rep of Ireland for example that has led to all those "ghost estates"

My concern is the emphasis that is placed on economic considerations which form part of the definition given of sustainable development. The developer will only have to say "job creation" and local politicians will be reluctant to say no...

In terms of Tesco though I do agree with your earlier comment that the fuel station is in the wrong place. Tesco do have form though in terms of messing up junctions - has anyone seen the junction near to the Tescos in Fareham near Portsmouth? Oh my lord.....

Yep, Tescos have a habit of causing traffic chaos. Newtown, Wales is another place where the road network has been completely jiggered by them.

 

[henryscat]

There is a lane for turning right into Randles. which may be superfluous, as the entrance is blocked completely by display cars

I've often wondered about that. I wonder whether planning consent was based upon the main entrance being in that location. A dropped kerb is also provided where the row of display cars is.

 

[Gramaisc]

I've often wondered about that. I wonder whether planning consent was based upon the main entrance being in that location. A dropped kerb is also provided where the row of display cars is.

I haven't looked at it deeply, but it does seem to be a pointless waste of carriageway space and it's just where a lack of carriageway space is a justification for the continuation of a long-standing problem.

 

[Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt]

I reckon they should move the exit for the petrol station to the main road by making use of the small road at the rear, which is now fenced off. I don't know why they fenced it off, as this was a shortcut to get to Newport Road if you're on a bike. Now you have to go all the way around the petrol station to head up Newport Road.

I think from memory the reason that Tesco decided to fence off that back entrance is because they had huge levels of shop lifting from people using that passage way as a way of nipping in and out of the store easily. Not wanting to stereotype but there is a homeless place next door that houses people with a number of problems and issues - before the fence this was an easy route. I'm not suggesting that everyone that is homeless is a shoplifter incidentially

I agree with Henry (we do agree sometimes!) that much of the problem is due to the location of the fuel station. If that wasn't there then the junction could be re-modelled, as it is there is no space. They could take out some of the pedestrian crossings to let the traffic flow better but that would make the junction more dangerous for people to cross, particularly from Victoria Park. They could build a footbridge over the road from the Park side to the Tesco side but this would be a very expensive solution.

In terms of the fuel station, It would have perhaps been better if it had been over the far end of the car park near to where they have got the recycling area but that probably would have been too close to the housing & it also would have meant that there would be less "passing petrol trade" from those crawling up and down the Newport Road

 

[db]

As big an issue for me is the big car transporter lorries that park on double yellow lines outside the Randles Suzuki / Great Wall dealership, blocking off the left lane (straight up Newport Road) meaning everyone has to go into the right lane (for turning up past the station). This obviously clogs traffic massively if there are a few cars turning right as the filter for turning right is only on for a few seconds. The problem is compounded further because they always seem to do this in rush hour....

innit, this happens at least a couple of times a month and is a right pain in the arse.. could they not at least do it outside rush hour??

 

[proactive]

innit, this happens at least a couple of times a month and is a right pain in the arse.. could they not at least do it outside rush hour??

That would seem logical, the same problem exists at the BMW garage on Radford Bank and at Freedom Caravans. I'd have thought a little consideration to helping to minimise traffic disruption might go a long way to attracting future customers. Though my experience would suggest that with two out of the three establishments in question treating everyone like dirt, customers or not, is part of the business plan.

 

[Randlesuk]

Hi all, apologies for the late response. You know we do always try to reply to these threads.

Firstly the traffic light situation is ideal for no one. We have created one way in and out which is minimising the amount of traffic that would be obstructing the lights right outside the 'filter lane'. Clearly not much thought had been put into that filter lane when it was created.

We are in the same mind as you all in regards to the lights. They are dangerous at the best of times and it makes it very difficult for everyone using the junction. However we have tried to make as best use as we can of what we have available.

In regards to the deliveries we receive, it would be fantastic if we could have this arranged but we are a very small part in the entire supply chain and to logistically plan the times when deliveries arrive is unfortunately a large aspect of our business that we cannot control. Our site is too tight to get the lorries on site therefore have no alternative than to utilise the space outside the dealership whilst unloading.