Neighbours war with wounded soldiers families

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Report from Gray's Lane

Hi All

Thanks for the messages of support.

I spent most of Thursday 20th July in and around Gray's Lane, starting at 1000 and ending at 1900 when I met some lovely ARRSErs for some refreshment and then another walk up Gray's Lane.

I made a number of observations, some of which I'm awaiting further information on, but for the moment I can report the following, some of which may help to clarify house numbers, locations and the like and give a feel for the place.

Gray's Lane is a quiet residential road with some 38 houses in it. As you enter Gray's Lane from Dene Road, the houses are numbered in ascending order with evens on the right hand side and odds on the left,

According to Roger Bennett, 'planning officer' according to the local paper, "The actual house is situated in a very narrow lane, and we are just worried about traffic congestion because access is not suitable." This is quite incorrect:

There are three distinct parts to the road. Between Dene Road and Berry Walk, the road is like any other public side-road. For approx 100m, as it passes Berry Walk, it narrows to single track width, like many public country roads. After Chalk Lane, Gray's Lane widens considerably with a reasonable road width, very wide grass verges and large houses set back from the verge.

All the houses have considerable driveways, (many are in/out affairs) and there is no need for people to park on the road. One builder did however have his transit van parked on the road and on Wednesday evening Pies (from ARRSE) had no difficulty passing it.

No.36 is almost at the end of the road, opposite the junction with Ralliwood Road. I.e. it is nowhere near Chalk Lane, Oaken Coppice and most of Ralliwood Road.

After No.36 there are a further 3 houses on the same side and the road ends with a turning circle. Leading off that is a footpath/bridleway through fields, horses, wildflowers etc. It is tranquil and an ideal place for people who need a quiet place to reflect on things. In my opinion, one could not wish for a better location for what SSAFA are proposing.

Given what the council said about traffic, I paid particular attention to vehicles. Without entering any private property or peering through any hedges, I counted the number of vehicles immediately visible at each house.

The vast majority of houses in Gray's Lane had two or more vehicles visible. Many had three and several had four, including one house whose objection cited traffic! Outside No. 36 were five, yes FIVE cars!! The drive is a big in/out, with plenty of space for a minibus to pull in and drive out again, even with six or seven cars parked on the drive.

Other vehicles, similar to SSAFA's proposed minibus, already use the road with no apparant difficulty. During the day I observed numerous transit-van sized vehicles in the road, including the post office, couriers, builders, plumbers and roofers, gardening companies and the like. Oh and Dial-a-Ride. Who use a minibus!!! Just like SSAFA are proposing!

In addition, several houses are having work undertaken and have a skip on their drive. A skip lorry is no smaller than a minibus so why are they allowed to use the road?

Even more to the point, at two houses I observed the big 1 ton nylon sacks that builders merchants use to deliver sand, aggregate and the like. I rang the local branch of the company concerned and they informed me that the smallest vehicle they have available to deliver those sacks is an 18.5 ton HIAB lorry. Clearly Gray's Lane isn't a problem for vehicles of that size then!

Other observations:
Gray's Lane has a 20mph speed limit. This should present no problem for families coming to stay as they are used to low speed limits on MQs and the like. However, many users of Gray's Lane, both residents and builders/plumbers etc appear to have considerable difficulty adhering to the speed limit, with many travelling considerably in excess of that. As an example, one car was estimated by myself and the ARRSErs to be travelling at some 40mph. One rule for one?

I carried out two traffic counts. Between 1030 and 1130, I noted 6 cars and three vans entering Gray's Lane from Dene Road. In the same time, 5 cars and two vans went in the opposite direction. Between 1645 and 1715, 7 cars entered Gray's Lane whilst 7 cars and three vans left. Whilst statistically inadmissable, these figures suggest that this hardly a road at dire risk of overcrowding or congestion!

One objection sent the council included 'pollution' as a concern. Whilst it is quite legal to do so, I was surprised that this particular householder then had large bonfire on Thursday, with considerable smoke drifting across neighbouring properties. Perhaps smoke isn't pollution?

To indicate how well organised the Nimby campaign is, there are either 14 or 16 houses in Chalk Lane (it is unclear whether two at the end are in Park Lane or Chalk Lane) but between them they submitted 14 letters of objection. There are 34 houses in Ralliwood Road who managed 23 letters and 28 objections came from the 38 houses in Gray's Lane. This was clearly no 'spontaneous decision' on their part! I have logged house number/name vs location in each of these roads to cross reference with what their objections are.

In summary
In my opinion, the house and location are perfect, the objections raised with the council spurious, vexatious and ill informed, and we should do all we can to expose the selfish ignorance which is clearly at play.

CS