Calls To Cut Speed Limit On A3056 Win Parish Council Support

A bid to reduce the speed limit from 50 to 40 miles per hour over a ‘very dangerous stretch of road for vulnerable users’ has won support from an Isle of Wight public body.

Newchurch Parish Council (NPC) backed the reduction across Fighting Cocks Cross on the A3056 – a campaign demand of advocacy group CycleWight – at its meeting last week.

Cllr Bob Blezzard proposed NPC request the Isle of Wight Council as highways authority introduce a new 40 mile per hour speed limit.

The councillor added that he does not see a reason for any speed limit on the Island being more than 40 miles per hour.

One member abstained, telling members she had crossed the road ‘hundreds of times’ on a horse and ‘not had a problem’.

“I’ve done it when it was a 60 and not had any problems – it’s a clear stretch of road,” she added.

A representative for CycleWight told the meeting the group had been talking to the Isle of Wight Council about the possibility of reducing the speed limit from Horringford through to Branstone from 50 miles an hour down to 40 miles an hour.

He said: “A primary reason for doing this is the junction at Watery Lane and Bathingbourne Lane – that is part of a main round the Island cycle route.

“We receive a lot of complaints and comments from cyclists about the difficulty in crossing that road primarily because there’s no reservation in the middle of the road so they have to cross that road in one go.”

CycleWight has said the stretch of road is ‘very dangerous’ for ‘vulnerable users’.