A35 could get speed cameras

4 people have died on the road in the last year.

Campaigners have been calling for improvements to the A35 – the road that links Honiton in East Devon to Charmouth in Dorset – for years, as the A-road goes directly through the heart of the villages that line its routes.

Now though, Highways England have confirmed that subject to funding, a number of options to improve safety could be implemented in the next three years.

Five million vehicles drive along the A35 and its villages each year, but safety measures, including average speed cameras on the route, and pedestrian crossings in Wilmington and Kilmington, where residents sometimes have to wait five minutes to cross the road, are now been explored.

It follows Devon County Council 12 months ago backing a motion from Cllr Martin Shaw urging Highways England to give greater priority to improvements in Wilmington as a matter of urgency.

In the last 12 months, there have been four fatal accidents on the stretch of road.

On October 11, 19-year-old Blake Harkin, from Honiton, died after being involved in a car crash near Wilmington on the A35. Flowers, toy cars and car air fresheners were left in tribute to him.

On April 29, 2019, lorry driver Wayne Woodbridge, aged 54, from Winchester, sustained fatal injuries and pronounced deceased at the scene following a collision between two HGVs at Gammons Hill at Kilmington Cross.

On June 13, a Hampshire man in his 60s was found dead after his car left the road and ended up in dense woodland some 30 metres from the carriageway off the A35 near Charmouth.

On July 4, a 27-year-old cyclist from Colyton died after being involved a crash between a van and a cyclist on the A35 at Raymonds Hill, Axminster.

Kat Liddington, South West Programme Development Manager for Highways England, said: “We are absolutely committed to improving safety on the A35 and we are currently working on a number of studies, including options around average speed cameras between Honiton and Charmouth and crossing points in the villages of Wilmington and Kilmington.

“These studies are still very much in development, but subject to funding we are hoping to implement the safety improvements within the next three years. In the meantime, we continue to work closely with Devon County Council and our police partners and we are keeping them, the parish councils and other interested parties informed as to progress.

“As part of this work, we are also undertaking a number of joint road safety campaigns aimed at influencing driver behaviour.”

Cllr Martin Shaw, who represents the Wilmington area on Devon County Council, said: “The draft results of the study commissioned into the Average Speed Camera option have shown that the proposed camera scheme across the 13-mile stretch of the A35 from Honiton to Charmouth, which also includes two crossings in Wilmington and one in Kilmington, could have real safety benefits.

“Highways England need to do some further work but aim to put the scheme into their ‘Value Management’ process by the end of the current financial year. A positive result there could lead to detailed design work in 2020-21 and (in the best case) construction in 2021-22.

“It will be seen that this is a complex and lengthy process. Nevertheless we were told that the A35 is Highways England’s top priority for the South West for safety improvements and I am hopeful that this scheme will be carried forward and eventually bring some real benefits to reach the communities in the two villages who are suffering from the road.”

He added that the study showed there had been 95 incidents involving injuries and fatalities in a 5-year period for the road, and that speeding through Wilmington is really bad, with Highway England’s survey showing 15 per cent of drivers drive at over 35 mph (eastbound) and 37 mph (westbound) in the 30mph area.”

Cllr Shaw said that Highways England do have an Air Quality fund, but it could only be accessed if East Devon District Council made Wilmington, where air quality levels have exceeded national limits two years running, an Air Quality Management Area.

Explaining further the problems on the A35, Cllr Shaw said: “Almost all the village of Wilmington is built along the A35, with older houses being within feet of the road, but there are no pavements along much of both sides of the road. Because of the lack of pavements, many residents need to cross and re-cross through the heavy traffic to go to other addresses on the same side of the road, but because of the volume of traffic, at busy times it is often necessary to wait five minutes to cross.”

The A35 Action Group say that Wilmington, Chideock, Morecombelake, Raymond’s Hill and Kilmington are all blighted by air pollution, noise pollution, high volumes of speeding vehicles and a lack of pavements to enable residents to negotiate the village without imperilling their lives.

They have previously called for a pedestrian crossing to be installed in the village, extending the 30mph speed limit to cover the whole of the village, a pavement to be installed on the north side of the road on the east side of the village and the junction at the Offwell turning to be redesigned.

But they say that the only real solution long-term is to re-route the A35 so that it doesn’t go through the village – and the same thing would have to happen for the villages of Chideock, Morecombelake, Raymonds Hill and Kilmington as well.