A public meeting has been called to discuss local residents’ concerns about the “experimental” closure of Highwood Road after it emerged that South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) is to make a final decision on the closure at a committee meeting in September.
The local meeting takes place at Coniston Community Centre, near The Parade in Coniston Road, on Thursday 22nd August at 7pm.
It has been organised by Chris Jenner, the community development worker for Patchway, in response to concerns raised at the Patchway Safer and Stronger Community Group meeting on 24th July.
The closure of Highwood Road to general traffic (buses and taxis are still allowed to use it, subject to a 20mph speed limit) was a key component of the outline planning permission for the development of the North Field area (now known as Charlton Hayes) and is intended to provide safe pedestrian and cycling links between Charlton Hayes and “old” Patchway.
The road was closed to general traffic on 15th October 2012, following the introduction of an 18-month experimental Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) intended to “allow the implications of the scheme to be fully considered in consultation with the local community”.
The “experimental” nature of the closure was a concession made by the council after 4,137 people signed a petition calling for it to be kept open to general non-commercial traffic, subject to a 20mph speed limit, in addition to the buses and taxis that are allowed to use it under the council’s original Highwood Road Linear Park scheme.
Research by The Journal has revealed that the ‘forward plan’ of SGC’s Planning Transport and Strategic Environment (PTSE) Committee indicates that the topic “Highwood Road closure – review re-opening” is due to be discussed at the committee’s meeting on 4th September.
According to the plan, committee members will be asked:
- To consider the results of the consultation following the implementation of the Experimental Bus only TRO on Highwood Road.
- To reach a decision on whether to Confirm, Modify or Extinguish the Experimental Bus only TRO on Highwood Road.
The Journal understands that Thursday’s public meeting in Patchway will be attended by town councillors (some of whom are also South Gloucestershire councillors) but no SGC officers will be present.
The results of SGC’s public consultation on the “experimental” closure, held from October 2012 to April 2013, are likely to be revealed next week when the agenda and reports for September’s PTSE Committee meeting are published.
It makes it very difficult for the residents of patchway, to get to cribbs causeway, coniston road and small roads, with the shear wait of traffic, causing other roads as a rat run, rodway road has triple in traffic, using this road to avoid the traffic lights at highwood lane junction, as they cant turn right there anyway, it seems stupid we have a dual carriageway to get to cribbs causeway and cant use it, I cant see why they cant open it again, makes life easier for everyone, less pollution in the air , less petrol to get there, essier access for the residents of patchway, other fellow drivers would still continue to use the new roads, but when it comes to xmas bank holidays, at least it wont be gridlocked, please open it again
The closure of this road has made it very difficult for cars to get to the mall. We drove up towards highwood road from the dual carriage way and realised we couldn’t go up there. We ended up turning left into the new residential area thibking we could get to the mall from there but found we couldn’t so had to turn back round and come back down highwood road (think it was just a bus lane again but we couldn’t get back another way. This is a stupid idea to close this main road to the mall especially for the residents in patchway as its going to cause mayhem on the back roads!!!
Open highwood road again please
The closure of high woods lane has caused nothing but nuisance to the residents of patchway. The volumes of traffic that now have to be redirected through the estate cause queuing during peak times and I dread to think what the pot holes will be like if we have another heavy winter. The other thing that is ridiculous, although high woods lane is closed there is no methods of policing to stop people from using it! So there are still odd people who don’t take any notice of the signs. There aren’t that many buses that use the dual carriage way so it is a waste of road space, especially considering there was a bus lane anyway! I think the road should be reopened if not on a permeant basis then just as a trial for residents to report back. Something needs to be done!
I think they way they have shut off the road and to use the new road is not on as new residents is gonna get caught in all of it come Christmas time and it’s not right that they shpuld have to sit in all that traffic just to get to there street its just vile I think not every resident wants to be on there way home n sit in traffic or wants to see it out there window not a nice view at all and I think they should be heard out 1st on this even if they went round door to door doing a survey
Crazy that this road is closed.
I live on one of the small side roads, and with so many parked cars on both sides of the road, and the increase in traffic due to Highwood rd closed its making our road very busy. And also cars driving at speed which is dangerous in such a residential area.
A door to door survey for local residents will give a clear idea of the pure hassle this road causes.
This must be rare event for a council to deliberately turn a residential area into rat runs just so a couple a buses an hour can have high wood road to themselves.
If they don’t reopen the road,the people of patchway will have nothing but contempt for south Gloucestershire council
The shear volume of traffic that is now using Coniston road is just crazy. People are not using the new link roads that have been put in, and are instead going through the residential area, it’s dangerous. I have had two cats run over on that road since highwood road closed in October, that could of been a child. I think that this really needs to be re thinked!!
I fear that it will take someones child to be killed crossing Coniston road before they reconsider the closure of highwood. It’s clear to see the amount of extra traffic on Coniston and how much of a rat run it has become so I can only assume the the developers of Charlton Hayes are paying a tidy fee to SGC to have a nice quietroad outside their new estate. Perhaps we would be best to protest in a way that prevents them continuing to build. Hit them in their pockets that will make them stand up and notice.
I have tolerated the changes as have many other Patchway residents. But the simple facts is that the pleas of the residents are being ignored. In trying to come out of my road that goes onto Conniston Road and after counting 25 vehicles at one time, I was somewhat annoyed to find when I had followed the stream of cars that the vast majority of them did not go up the A38 towards Aztec West but went over to Stoke Lodge – obviously saves them time, but at our cost! People are simply ignoring the link road if they feel it is quicker to use Conniston Road as a ‘rat run’. Several large lorries, obviously routed by their SAT NAV have ventured down Conniston Road thus creating an even more dangerous situation. They must cause damage to the road surface especially the speed humps and who foots the repairs – need I say more. Personally I don’t mind having to come off the motorway at the next junction (Cribbs) to get to my home from work however the frustration at seeing Highwood Lane being barely used by Buses is a total nonsense to the residents of Patchway.
As a resident whose property fronts on to coniston road the increase in traffic has been massively evident, within a week or so of highwood lane being closed there was two accidents on coniston rd, i understand that with the new link road, that there is no longer a need for a dual carriageway on highwood lane, so reopen as a single carriageway, or, seen as two thirds of the traffic using coniston as a rat run is from cribbs to the A38 then perhaps reopen highwood lane 1 way to all vehicles and keep bus lane for the other direction. The councils argument of ‘we dont want patchway and charlton hayes to feel like seperate communities’ doesnt wash, from the traffic lights with coniston upto the junction for sycamore drive is a massive hedgerow like a definitive boundary
What a pain the past 18 months has been, I live in little stoke and commute to work via cribbs causeway either through Coniston rd or the surrounding side roads, I pity the people living in patchway now having all this extra traffic trundling past every day. If any the sgcouncillors lived in patchway would they put up with all this additional traffic driving past there doors. I think not . This was a pointless exercise at the cost of the tax payer yet again, SGC need to rethink and in the meantime reopen the road. Suppose we can only dream someone will see sense. ????
I wish this matter would be sorted out one way or another I and many residents that live on Callicroft road seem to be the ones that have to travel the most to get to our homes since Highwood road became bus / bikes only,yes it has been used the new road and coinston has had more traffic but its a main road into patchway so it would be used a lot.
I think maybe now most of the house/apartments have been bought they might open up Highwood road to all (but not HGVs)traffic again
Well that was a MASSIVE meeting! I’ve never seen anything like it! Estimates of up to a 1000 people couldn’t get in the hall, too many to get in so the meeting moved outside. In a nutshell we have exhausted all legal and ‘democratic’ routes so now we must challenge SGC in person with as many people as possible so they can’t ignore us like they have done so far with our petitions and so on. It really will be about people power, and tonight showed it. Proposed date and time to challenge the decision being made is September the 4th at 3pm Thornbury Council offices. We will organise to get as many people as possible there. Watch out in the shops post office community centres and town council office for information. Thanks to those who organised the meeting, spoke, and all who attended. Brilliant!
Photo of tonight’s meeting, after it had been transferred to the square at The Parade because only half the people who turned up could fit into the room at Coniston Community Centre. Crowd estimated by some at 1,000 but probably in the range 200 to 300, which is still a significant turnout given the short notice and lack of publicity.
I quoted the speaker organiser with his estimate, I note there are many out of shot in your picture, very hard to capture and even harder to estimate, plenty were up on walls not in this shot at this stage, Sgt Evely had moved too, all relative of course. Thanks for coverage, as yes, given the short notice and publicity articles like this do make a big difference.
For the record, the 200 is Inspector Evely’s estimate and the 300 is mine! Nonetheless, still a massive turn out for a very emotive issue.
Noted. Thanks!
@DAVE
You telling us porkies again 1000 don’t think so it was more like 200 I was there.
where were all those against 4000 they should have all been there not just a few.
To hear the council’s reason behind the change is to make two communities more cohesive is laudable but laughable given how they’re trying to achieve it..closing a perfectly good dual carriageway forcing traffic through the residential streets of Patchway and all the disruption that would inevitably cause, how is that going to make for a more cohesive community? And so after the trial period the council has now got to make a decision, I hope the residents of Patchway, including those from Charlton Hayes can unite to force the council into some clearer thinking on how to manage the area’s roads.
I thought I would try to tackle the problem of the speeding traffic another way by calling ‘101’, I agree that the speed at which the heavy traffic travels along Coniston Road is frightening. However, the response which I recieved was not very hopeful. It was explained that the Policemen with the speed camera would have to stand in high viz jacket in full sight of the traffic. therefore they would not be able to catch anyone speeding.
I then rang SGC spoke to a gentleman in the Planning Dept, I advised him of my concern regarding the speed and volume of traffic, that I had counted the number of vechicles passing my home over 25mins: 318. He said he would not dispute this figure as they had conducted such a count themselves.
So we know that SGC are fully aware that the volume of traffic has increased as we feared it would and I believed they knew it would and still they are determined to keep the dual carriage way closed. We were treated with contempt at the last meeing when the vote was taken to close the carriage way and I have no reason to think SGC will revearse that decision.
My question to SGC is, Why is the Council so determined to close the Dual Carriage Way, when you know its makes no sense. Does anyone really know the reasoning behind this decision?
@happy
Unfortunately there was not much publicity about this meeting beforehand – I found out about it via facebook and got a leaflet through my door on the day of the meeting – others in my street did not get the leaflet. Some of my friends would like to have come but as they have young children the time was not great for them; others are away on holiday.
The council meeting is on a Wednesday at 3pm. Very handy for people working and people with school age children… having rang the council office today I was told that the meeting date was planned well in advance but the agenda was not. Either the agenda setters did not realise that there would be a lot of members of the public would not be able to attend (which makes me question their competence) or this was all part of the plan to keep some of the riff raff away (which, considering their disregard to the strength of feeling in Patchway looks more likely to be the reason for the timing of the meeting. They could have held the discussion at another meeting better timed for the people they pretend to represent).
Either way it does not look very promising…
@jen I think you need to ask Southern brooks about that they were the ones that held the meeting I rang them up to find out about it and a lady on the phone said they didn’t want to many to come to the meeting which I found a bit odd I told her it would be rubbish as everyone got news of it from FB like I did and would come she just said oh we will need a bigger hall then
And as for the time of the meeting on the 4th if people are that bothered they will make time if its that important to them like I and others will do
@Happy
none of the messages I recieved via Fb – or the A4 sheet that was put through my door on the day – said who was organising the meeting. There was a lot of speculation about who could be the organisers, but Southern Brooks was not one of the suspects. Ah the joys of social media ! lol
I would like to attend the meeting but cannot as my childrens school teachers would not be impressed if I left them there for an extra hour or two so I have already contacted SGC so that I can make arrangements for my feelings on the subject to be raised with the others.
The meeting was arranged by the Community organiser Chris Jenner who is based in Coniston community centre, it was not arranged my the town council or Southern Brooks, Councillor Scott and myself were asked to speak for 15 minutes, but to stop it getting out of hand we tried to answer questions and give as much information as possible.
We need to get as many people as possible to attend the 4th September meeting of the SGC planning committee, this is possible the last chance we will have.
Thank you Chris for your clarification.
I put in a complaint about Highwood Road / Charlton Hayes about a month ago as with my job I have to regularly cross that so called cyclist and pedestrian crossing as live in Cranbourne Road. Number of times I have been walking or cycling on the footpath and cars are using the footpath and pedestrian crossings as roads, it does not work. South Gloucestershire Council e mailed me back to say they would investigate and get back to me in 10 days and I’m still waiting. No matter what time of day or night you walk there Charlton Hayes side use it as a road to save going round the block. I have even been yelled at as they thought they had right of way.
Can anyone tell me the sense in what Chris is saying about it improving and making things safer. How is risking your safety coming into this? I did not agree with the closure anyway but now it is just dangerous. Is someone going to have to be badly injured before the children running the county council listen to the people who live, work and use the area
I have put in several complaints to South Gloucestershire Council about the dangers of cars driving out across the pedestrian footpaths on to the liner park and then driving up to the standing stone roundabout. On several occasions I have reported near misses. Like Fustrated, I am waiting for a reply from South Gloucestershire Officers who have promised but not holding my breath for a reply once they have talked with Bovis. In which month or year that will be I don’t know. It is Frustrating when you take residents comments to them and they still don’t act on the concerns or complaints, as a Patchway Town councillor we do try and work with our residents, but South Gloucestershire does not seem to want to work with any one that does not share their view to which I am getting increasingly anger about.
I think this is one of the worst road clousures I have ever known. the road is dangerous to people, animals and other car users!! the council are bonkers closing this main road to cribs!!! I use the road to ride my bicycle but find it too dangerous to use the road!! its a rat run!!!
Well the people that hire the room out were told it was Southern brooks hiring it for the meeting I’m just going by what I was told
My son in law thinks that now the houses have all been sold it will go back to cars being able to use it again lets hope he is right
@Happy no porkies ‘again’ or ever, I’m not a fibber and never have been! I quoted the organiser who said that himself if you didn’t hear that never mind. I thought honestly that the crowd size was much bigger, it felt like it, especially when we crammed into the hall. I’m clearly rubbish at counting! But it was a great turn out. Anyway, always good to hear from you Happy, you’ve been too quiet. I hope you are well.
Frustrated I don’t understand how you are making points at Chris, this stupid idea is the fault of SGC, not his. He’s trying his best to reverse this daft decision. Please support him and us as he and we try to do our best for Patchway.
I was disappointed at some of the hecklers last night who failed to understand where the fault lies with this, but Chris, Sam and the rest are big boys and don’t need me to defend them i guess. It was not easy to handle that crowd last night so well done to all who spoke and kept the peace.
This is a time for mass unity against SGC and mass attendance to the meeting in Thornbury on September the 4th at 3pm.
People power and a mass show of dissent is our last chance. I fear unrest otherwise. Thanks to all who attended and see you again on the 4th. Peace to all men, and women. Cheers!
I could not attend the meeting that was held at the Parade, but was so pleased to see such a good turn out. Cannot for the life of me see the sense in this road closure at all. Yes by all means keep the bus lane down the dual carriage way but why not open the other lane for cars ! I can count on one hand the number of buses I have seen go down the carriageway. people even walk in the road down there because it is hardly ever used. Absolute madness. Just open the dual carriage way and stop this lunacy before someone gets killed trying to cross Coniston road !
Lots more discussion on this story and Thursday’s public meeting on our Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/17baajn
I am of the opinion that this road will never open again.
You can have complaints and meetings until the cows come home, but I suspect
1) Highwood Rd closing was part of the deal with Bovis agreeing to spend 6.5 million on the link road.
2) Its all tied in to building future houses on Filton Airport, and SGC will not want to be seen go back on an agreement.
Just about everything boils down to money with things like this.
Bovis have pulled a flanker and got their way and demoted a dual carriageway (THE PATCHWAY BYPASS) to a single track bus lane so they could maximise properties they can put on the land they acquired and we all know it.
Bovis’s smoke and mirrors word games such as “community integration” have a nice ring to them but my opinion they bought SGC with it, along with the “proud to have built” the new link road as if it in some way compensates the closing Highwood Lane. Wake up SGC – with the number of houses going up they would have had to have built it anyway.
At the impromptu impressively turned out meeting on Thursday one of the baffling facts I took away with me is the issue that SGC will lose money if Highwood Lane re-opens – money earmarked for a new community centre?, sorry I may be missing something here but how so? is this yet another tactic to cover up their poor decision making along with their inability to eat humble pie…..
I’m not confident common sense is going to prevail at the meeting on Sept 4th but count me in I will be there.
If the Patchway enclave remains a rat run with part of that enclave marooned(Sycamore Drive etc) then Patchway people don’t give up!, the fight must continue to get things done to redress the impact on our quality of life the development of Charlton Hays has had so far….
@Martyn
SGC will not lose 106 money, Bovis will still have to pay 106 money for the new community buildings, either on Charlton Hayes or in the surrounding area. The cost to SGC is paying back Bovis the money they have spent on converting Highwood lane into a bus lane, compensation to home owners on Charlton Hayes who purchased a house over looking a quiet bus lane and changes to the bus lane.
You are right that SGC seem incapable of admitting they are wrong and Patchway residents were not represented by our previous SGC councillors. This was a bad decision 10 years ago and with the development of the airfield it will only get worse.
Chris Mills
Hi Dave
Yes I’m very well thank you good to hear from you also.
I haven’t been on here for a while because I have been busy working and enjoying the great weather we have had.
@Chris
Thanks for the clarification – I now see no reason why SGC shouldn’t vote to reopen Highwood Lane.
I fully appreciate the people who bought the properites butting onto Highwood Lane could end up victims of some rubbish planning and rubbish decisions making backing those plans 10 years ago
Ahhhh….the pitchforks and torches are out.
Won’t somebody think of the children?!? How many people have been knocked over on Coniston Road?
Anecdotal evidence about wing mirrors being broken.
This HAS always been, and remains a “NIMBY” issue for all you detractors.
Before the changes were made, Highwood road would be in GRIDLOCK as it was the only possible to the Mall at peak times. Christmas especially. That was fine though, as it didn’t impact on your “residential area” nor did you have to travel any further to get to the Mall.
I’d be very interested to know the mileage difference between driving the full length of Coniston vs driving to Patchway roundabout and then taking the link road. I fear for many it’s going to be negligible.
Weren’t all the shops on Rodway Road supposed to be closed by now due to the lack of passing trade? Weren’t we meant to have had school children run over by the masses of traffic?
South Gloucestershire won’t listen to any of you because your point is flawed. They have managed the overall flow of traffic on ALL the roads in Patchway better. It’s benefited me (while also meaning it takes me longer to get to the mall too). It’s inconvenienced some.
“NIMBY”????
I live in Sycamore Drive, with the road closed to traffic, I can sit in my back garden and watch a bus go by ever 10 minutes or so, or if we can get this stupid road closure overturned, the chances are I will have 100’s of cars driving past my house, but guess what, the road was there before I moved in and I knew where I was moving to.
This is more than an inconvenience, it is a mistake and should never have been agreed, as for managing the traffic on Patchway roads, it is clear you don’t travel around Coniston or the other side roads of Patchway very often, because you would see the problems this road closure has created.
You just keep using Hayes way Patchway bloke, some of us will continue to fight this crazy bus lane.
Chris Mills
Chris?
Sycamore Drive is closed away from the Mall. This I can understand – a full reopening is needless however. The route from Patchway Roundabout to The Mall SHOULD remain closed.
Please tell me how anyone in Sycamore sits in their back garden and WATCH the buses go by? They’ve chopped all the trees down now is it?
NIMBY is right. All hyperbole. And for what it’s worth I have a vested interest in a property in Sycamore Drive so speak from experience.
Also no-one thinking of the shops on Rodway? They were meant to be closed by now as no-one could get there anymore. And then there is all the school kids who will be knocked down? Think Bradley Stoke has us there hey?
Ignore all that “Chris Mills” – if you ARE a town councilor? I’d not vote for you ever. And yes, I do live in Patchway and have voted at all levels since I was able.
Agenda ridden – no-one has EVER listened to the points I’ve raised that what the road closure did was impact on the “estate” somewhat – SOMEWHAT by adding to journey times/traffic flow
while alleviating the utter bottle neck that was highwood road.
You reopen Highwood road? Good for good old you lot. However on the greater scale of things, traffic is less inclined to use the new road that was built to alleviate traffic.
the balance is the justification. I got less, you got more. SGC did a good thing here – but if I lived in the “I’ve been fecked off” area I probably wouldn’t agree.
Lately I’ve had a new neighbour move in who has this dog that barks all day. When I’m a home it’s not good. However it’s sort of tolerable I suppose. This issue wasn’t here however when I moved in, so why should I now tolerate it?!?!? You see my angle Chris?
On the greater scale of things people are less inclined to use the new road somewhat even now, and with more houses and more traffic it will increase the burden already being placed on Coniston.
There have been accidents and someone has been knocked down there already, thank god it wasn’t a child. Accidents happen anywhere, granted, but Coniston’s increase in traffic flow make it increasingly and disproportionately dangerous, I don’t live on there but understand those residents concerns, there’s no balance or justification in ignoring that or substantiating against it.
The relief road would be needed anyway with more and more houses and traffic coming, Bovis and SGC knew this all along, with SGC getting Bovis to stump up the cash by giving them half a dual carriageway to put their houses on facing outwardly onto a nice quiet bus lane. How convenient.
Highwood would relieve the disproportionate traffic now using Coniston, my original point has always been a relief road isn’t a relief road if you close the road it relieves, that’s just displacement, and the displacement has gone to Coniston, a road not built for this level of traffic, unlike Highwood.
All points are listened to here, just ‘most’ would prefer Highwood reopened, there are a handful of opposites debating here, but that’s about all.
Problem is, these points are not listened to by SGC, so it will take the ‘most’ who disagree with this flawed decision to demonstrate offline in person at Thornbury for starters as we continue to battle similarly entrenched views.
Let’s be honest with ourselves here – Hayes way wasn’t built to “alleviate traffic”. It was built to serve a new housing estate. It wasn’t some altruistic measure on the part of Bovis!
Who, exactly, was the closure of Highwood Road supposed to benefit and who has it ultimately benefited? The only reasonable answer I can come up with is…..Bovis. It forces traffic onto Hayes Way, where their new retail units will be built. It makes access easier for residents on the north of the estate. And the fact that they can build a “park” on the old dual carriageway means they can use up less of their own valuable land for parks.
It doesn’t take much common sense to realise that with both Highwood Road *and* Hayes Way open to through traffic, neither will suffer as badly from peak time and Christmas traffic. Is this, therefore, not a better long-term solution from Patchway’s perspective?
As Chris says, however, it won’t happen, because Bovis are involved and money talks.
How anybody can consider it logical to close an a road made to carry through traffic between two points and that traffic then diverts to a residential b road between those same two point just beggars belief. Its as simple as that and no amount apologetics on the behest of SGC and Bovis is going to make those blessed with common sense see it in any other way, particularly when the development being put into the immediate area is going to increase traffic density.
In short – stupid decision making with impact on a significant number of people in Patchway.
I’ve said about all I can over and over, and don’t disagree with the latest points, but for the record, there is no ‘park’.
‘Real’ parks, fields and play areas are in the plans for Charlton Hayes.
The so called ‘Linear’ park is currently a grass verge and some trees. Not a park in the traditional sense, and currently split by a bus and taxi lane.
Anyway, that’s about all I can say, and saving myself for next week now, ATB to all with common sense in the meantime. Perhaps we could bottle some and deliver it to SGC, they are clearly short of it.
WOW.
Stoke Lodge traffic and beyond should naturally not even pass Patchway Roundabout, it should do the A38 and the new road.
The few displaced of Patchway estate? They have further to travel to the mall and beyond – I am one, I live on the A38. I said this before. It takes me longer to get to the mall now (albeit by not much).
DOES NOBODY ON HERE REMEMBER WHEN THERE WOULD BE UTTER GRIDLOCK AROUND CHRISTMAS TIME BEFORE HAYES WAY WAS OPENED?!?
There HAS been a balance of traffic. All I’ve seen here is a few people moan because they have to travel a bit further, or have more traffic going by?
To stop the permanent closure of Highwod Road, we could all flood Pat Hockey and all the other councillors with emails against closure. Maybe the whole South Glos web site will collapse. Pat Hockey as the spokesperson of the committee will be be the one proposing the permanent closure. The Liberals are the ones who allowed Bovis to get away with building all those houses on Charlton Hayes and reducing Highwood Road to a bus lane.
Going by some of the comments in the post it looks like Highwood road will not reopen to the general public again .
I posted here just after the closure to say although the closure was one of the most stupid decisions made by any council anywhere I would abide by the decison,despite living in Windermere and working at Cribbs and suffering the inconvenience
The reason is I foolishly believe in democracy and in the people elected to serve us.However it seems that SGC do not follow the same agenda and for reasons far more important than the wishes of the vast majority of residents and road saftey they have pursued this crackpot plan to the end,so I now have to make a decision,and if the road is closed for good,I will throw my values out of the window and just use the road,I am sure I will not be the only one and my advice would be for everybody hacked off about this lunacy to do the same
I will abide by what ever they do and so should everyone else if they don’t and they still use that road then SGC have the law on their side and they will make a lot of money with all the fines .