Report from I.W. Councillor John Nicholson

Posted by Admin on 21 September 2019, 3:15 pm

COUNCILLOR JOHN NICHOLSON

Ward Member for Northwood & Cowes South
Chairman of Policy & Scrutiny Committee for Adult Social Care & Health

SUNNYSIDE

PALLANCE LANE

NORTHWOOD

PO31 8LT
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Tel: 07918 757843

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Email: cllr.john.nicholson@btconnect.com

See the I.W. Councillor’s section

WARD REPORT – SEPTEMBER 2019

The Report appearing in the October 2019 edition of Northwood News:

Credit Where Credit is Due
Scheduled for 3 weeks, but finished in 2 (resurfacing to be done over a couple of nights), Island Roads have excelled in their execution of the rebuilding of the sections of broken carriageway at Northwood Lights. As a further consideration, they were also able to completely open the road for the weekend in between!
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This is great stuff, as everyone recognises that the road really needed doing, and there was never going to be a right time. So, I hope that I can thank Island Roads on behalf of residents for managing the works so well and trying to minimise the inevitable impact on travelling times that the works would have.
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Rising Concern on Safety in Pallance Road
As many of you know, I have been raising the issue of safety, concerning traffic in Pallance Road, for some time, several years in fact. Lack of a footpath below Wyatts Lane and speeding impatient traffic are hazards that have got worse due to the increase of traffic flow and the frequency of diversions from the main Cowes – Newport road and the inevitable increase in road parking.
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Also of concern is the issue of forcing traffic on to the wrong side of the road travelling down Pallance Road, on a blind bend and road junction! This is caused by the parking just above Wyatts Lane. How this ever got through a safety assessment is unbelievable as it defies every principal of risk avoidance let alone common sense! It is quite obvious too, that the priority at the pinch point is the wrong way round, so, at busy times, traffic can stack back into Nodes Road. My request, on behalf of residents, to extend the yellow lines from Wyatts Lane junction by 2 spaces was well received by Island Roads but dismissed by IW Council Highways with the ridiculous response that if someone cut their hedge down it would make it all safe!
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Some of the fixes for these issues are very easy and cheap, and I have the weight of the Parish Council supporting the plea to get them implemented. But, what might help to trigger improvements is a comment to me by the Leader, who, during the Pallance Light’s roadworks used the advised diversion and experienced at first hand the issues that we have in Pallance Road and asked me what I thought, so I told him that I have been pressing for resolution and the fixes were easy, cheap and very cost effective:
Reverse the priority at the pinch points to stop back-up into Nodes Road. Extend the double yellows from Wyatts Lane junction up for 2 spaces, allowing traffic space to go back to the correct side of the road in time for the bend and junction. Paint a white line down the left-hand side of Pallance Road (going downhill) below the Wyatts Lane junction, creating a shadow pavement (where the road is wide enough to take it) and put up signs to warn drivers that there are pedestrians in the road. This might not be a perfect solution, but it does something to raise awareness of the risk and offers a bit more security for pedestrians. Another issue is to look at effective speed controls. We already have a speed limit, but it is often ignored.
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New Northwood Historic Pub Walk Launched
With the help of a local historian (wishes to maintain privacy), Dave Jones out of Cowes Heritage, members of the Parish Council, my friend Jeff Sechiara (national chairman of the Brewery History Society), we have completed an historic pub walk through Northwood in time for this year’s Beer, Buses and Walks Festival in mid-October. Because it is an historic view, we have used license to take Northwood beyond its present boundaries to start the walk at the Stag and finish at the Kingston, with the Horseshoe and Travellers Joy as the main featured stops within today’s village. The guide should be available for download from the Parish and Village websites as well as the Beer & Buses website, Visit IW and IW CAMRA websites (https://www.wightwash.org.uk/).
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This is one of a series of popular historic walks developed by Jeff and I in conjunction with local historians, and we are just finishing Carisbrooke and Ryde walks too, to join others that we have already produced (Cowes, Cowes Blitz, Gurnard, Newport, Shanklin, Ventnor, West Wight). This year we have engaged with Solent printers who are reformatting and lifting the walks to another level as well.
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Health Service Transformation
With the transformation of the CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group), now operating in combined resource with neighbouring mainland CCGs, and the great news of effective progress of our Hospital in climbing out of special measures towards the very real potential of being good. The Hospital already has recognition in certain departments of reaching outstanding service. Please, for your part, do continue to give constructive feedback to our public services whenever you can, as that serves as a useful check for them to feed back into the improvement drive.

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John Nicholson
Ward Member for Northwood & Cowes South.

See the I.W. Councillor’s section