Please see here, a summary from National Highways, following a meeting on Friday 26th April, with the Hooley Residents Association, the Netherne on the Hill Residents Association, Connect Plus Services and Councillor Frank Kelly, about improvements to the A23 (M23).
To assist National Highways with some of their objectives, we as a community can help! Do not hesitate to report any near misses you may experience, vehicles being driven at excessive speed or dangerously, vehicles parking fully on the footway causing an obstruction to pedestrians, and vehicles failing to comply with road signs (no Right Turn for example) etc. etc. All of this will help with the much needed data and statistics National Highways require to make improvements!
Thank you for meeting with me from National Highways and David Jenner from Connect Plus Services in Hooley on Friday 26 April.
Following the meeting, I have provided a short summary below of where National Highways are with the different matters that we discussed on Friday.
– Please note in the summary below, the public consultation in connection with the A23 speed limit reduction, has started today. The details of the consultation, and the contact addresses for responses, have been published on National Highways’ CitizenSpace consultation website, at:
https://nationalhighways.citizenspace.com/he/m23j7-a23-speed-limit-consultation
The current position with the projects and locations that we discussed on Friday 26th is as follows:
A23 Speed Limit reduction scheme: This is National Highways’ planned scheme to reduce the current 40mph speed limit on the A23 Brighton Road in Hooley to a 30mph limit, with additional ‘step down’ reductions on the M23 and A23 northbound approaches travelling towards Hooley. We now have funding to complete the design of this scheme this yea, and we hope to be able to implement the speed limit reduction in Spring 2025.
The speed limit reduction requires traffic orders to be updated, so there will be public consultation on the orders as the scheme is developed.
As part of this, we have just started (today Friday 3 May) a six-week consultation on the proposal for a Statutory Instrument to implement a speed limit reduction from 70mph to 50 mph on a short section of the M23 motorway northbound, approaching Hooley. This consultation started at midnight on 3rd of May 2024, and closes on 14 June 2024.
The details of the consultation, and the contact addresses for responses, have been published on National Highways’ CitizenSpace consultation website, which is at:
https://nationalhighways.citizenspace.com/he/m23j7-a23-speed-limit-consultation
The current consultation only concerns the speed limit reduction on the M23, because a Statutory Instrument is needed for the motorway speed limit. The speed limit reductions on the A23 trunk road through Hooley village will be dealt with separately using permanent traffic regulation orders, and we expect that consultation to happen later this year.
Once the new speed limit is in operation, we could then investigate further measures, including speed enforcement.
Request to add pedestrian controls to the Crossing over the A23 at Netherne Drive: We are investigating what can be done to meet this request. We still need to understand how often this crossing is used, and if demand will change in the future, in order to make a business case to change the current crossing point, and we still need to seek funding for a study to fully investigate this.
However, I understand from Marie at the meeting last Friday that the use of the crossing point by schoolchildren from the Netherne area may increase in the future. It would be very helpful to us if the Residents’ Association in Netherne could provide any further information about this, and information about the number of residents from Netherne who might be using this crossing point, to help us build the case for further investigation.
Installation of a ‘yellow box’ marking at the junction of the A23 with Netherne Drive: We have been investigating whether a yellow box marking or a ‘keep clear’ marking could be added here. However, traffic waiting times will have changed since the traffic signals were upgraded recently, and so we now need a period for monitoring before further changes are decided on.
We will need to allow at least six months from the completion of work on the signals for this monitoring, including the calibration of the new signalling system with the signals now in operation. We do realise that this is longer than you hoped for, but we need to make sure the signals are working reliably before we can look the impact they are having on traffic movements, and whether we will go on to implement another measure.
The recent traffic signal changes should have improved waiting times already, and so we hope that a change will be noticed, even though we can’t make a decision on further measures until the full picture is known.
Parking bays: We are reviewing the parking restrictions in the marked bays north of Star Lane, to ensure that these could be enforced. Civil enforcement of the parking restrictions would require an agreement with Surrey County Council, as National Highways do not have enforcement powers, and we will be discussing this with Surrey.
Pedestrian and Cycleways south of Church Lane: Surrey County Council are investigating a potential cycleway improvement to approach Hooley from the south, and we are working with Surrey to look at how this route would connect into the road network which is managed by National Highways, including the crossing points..
Church Lane junction: We do not have a current scheme for further measures to address vehicle right-turn manoeuvres from Church Lane, but we know that this is still a concern and we will seek to review this again.
M23/A23 Interchange and U-turns at Dean Lane junction: There is currently a new early stage study ongoing within National Highways centrally looking at this. There is no commitment that a scheme will progress from this study, but the current work will be used to make future decisions.
I hope the above is helpful to explain our current work.
With best regards
Amelia
Amelia Yeodal, Programme Development Manager M25, Team Leader Operations South East
National Highways | Bridge House | 1 Walnut Tree Close | Guildford | Surrey | GU1 4LZ
Mobile: + 44 (0) 7825 317 424
Here is an update following a further meeting on 12th July 2024, addressed to Jerry Warwick (Chairman, Hooley Residents Association), Lady Rosalind Earp (Chairperson, Netherne-on-the-Hill Residents Association) and Frank Kelly (Surrey County Council, Councillor)……………….
17 July 2024
Dear Jerry, Rosalind and Frank
Thank you for attending the meeting with us on Friday (12 July) to discuss the traffic conditions in Hooley.
I said that I would provide a summary of where National Highways are with the different matters that we have been discussing.
1. Pedestrian crossing point on the A23 at Netherne Drive: request to add pedestrian controls:
We understand why this is important and we are working to build a justifiable business case for pedestrian controls to be installed.
We need to do a short study of the pedestrian numbers and traffic use of the crossing, using cameras to monitor the crossing traffic. I am still requesting the funding for this, but if funding is available, we will aim to do the survey in September or October outside of the school holidays.
I will include the information about the school bus services being withdrawn in the business case for this, but if you can also send us the information from the Netherne residents’ survey, that would be helpful too, to add to the evidence of need for the crossing.
2. A23 Speed Limit reduction scheme:
Work is still progressing on National Highways’ scheme to reduce the speed limit on the A23 Brighton Road in Hooley from 40mph to 30mph.
The new 30mph limit is planned to run from the point where the current 40mph starts just south of Dean Lane, to a point about 100m north of Netherne Drive just beyond the bus stops, with additional ‘step down’ speed reductions on the M23 and A23 northbound
Registered office Bridge House, 1 Walnut Tree Close, Guildford GU1 4LZ
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approaching Hooley. There are planned to be 30mph painted roundel markings and ‘dragon’s teeth’ markings on each carriageway where the 30mph starts, to highlight this to drivers.
The project is in its design stage now, and we still hope to be able to implement the speed limit reduction in Spring 2025.
The speed limit reduction requires the A23 traffic orders to be updated, so there will be a public consultation on the A23 orders as the scheme is developed.
A separate consultation for the speed limit reduction on the northbound M23 has just been completed. We need to use a Statutory Instrument to implement a speed limit reduction on the motorway, so this consultation was done earlier. We have requested a reduction in the speed limit from 70mph to 50mph on a short section of the northbound M23 motorway.
This will provide a ‘step down’ from 70mph to 50mph before the speed limit then reduces from 50mph to 40mph and to the lower limit of 30mph.
3. Installation of a ‘yellow box’ marking at the junction of the A23 with Netherne Drive:
We are still investigating whether a yellow box marking or a ‘keep clear’ marking could be added on the A23 at the junction with Netherne Drive.
The traffic signal renewal works earlier this year at Star Lane and Netherne Drive have increased the number of traffic phases, so waiting times should have reduced, but we know traffic can still block back on the southbound A23 from the Star Lane junction across the entrance to Netherne Drive.
A yellow box marking would need support from the Police, and so we need to collect evidence for them to show how often the traffic is blocking the junction. This needs a camera survey. We can do this survey at the same time as the pedestrian survey for the crossing point, however, we still need to confirm the funding for this as well.
4. Parking bays north of Star Lane:
We are still reviewing the parking restrictions in the marked bays north of Star Lane, and in discussion with Surrey County Council about enforcement, as National Highways does not have enforcement powers.
5. Church Lane junction:
We are looking again at what can be done to prevent vehicles from making right-turn manoeuvres from Church Lane. At the meeting on Friday, Councillor Kelly suggested that Surrey County Council could also be asked to look at this, since Church Lane is managed by Surrey CC while the A23 is managed by National Highways. I will contact Councillor Kelly to discuss this further with him.
6. Pedestrian and Cycleways south of Church Lane:
Surrey County Council are still working on their plans for a cycleway between Merstham and Hooley. We are looking at how this route would connect into the A23 managed by National Highways in the area south of Church Lane, including the crossing points provided.
7. M23/A23 Interchange and U-turns at Dean Lane junction:
As at the last meeting, this location is being studied again by National Highways centrally. There is no commitment that a scheme will progress from this study, but the current work will provide information to make future decisions. In the local team, we are looking again at whether any smaller changes could be made at Dean Lane.
I hope the above is helpful to explain our current work.
Yours sincerely,
Amelia Yeodal
M25 Programme Development Manager M25,
Team Leader Operations South East
[email protected]