Stratford plumber calls for better investment in the town traffic control as roads worse than ever

THE chaos caused by the work in Birmingham Road, Stratford, is causing major problems for tradespeople who rely on easy access to suppliers based there – a situation made even worse over the weekend when flawed, temporary traffic lights popped up for emergency work at the Alcester Road/Masons Road junction.

Trips that once took a matter of minutes were already taking far longer, making life difficult for businesses and customers alike.

It’s a situation that was described this week as horrendous by Hugh Duck, whose business Local Plumber does 75 per cent of its work in the town.

He told the Herald: “I’ve been a Stratford resident since the early 70s, so I’ve seen the town change big time and there’s just been absolutely no investment in the town whatsoever in terms of traffic control.”

He said the lack of common sense from the powers-that-be to keep up with the challenges means the issues have come to a head at times like this when a major project is under way.

“We have four of us now, and we’re doing anything from emergencies and small jobs through to bathrooms – and we’ve got a good reputation,” he added. “Things like the congestion in Stratford compromise that and make it very frustrating, both for customers and us – and I’m certainly not the only one by a long stretch.

“If you keep the customers happy, then you’ll have a good business, whatever you do.

“It’s not good publicity for tourism as well. All these coaches come to the top of Henley Street and they’re in traffic forever.”

He said the current work on Birmingham Road has a particular impact on businesses like his because the majority of suppliers they use are situated along there.

“Being in the building trade, I understand that you have to shut infrastructure down to sort it out, but do it at a better time, and don’t just shut it completely. You let the traffic through at certain times when you can, and try and manage the situation.

“The current work has made it horrendous now.

“It’s getting increasingly difficult to give our customers the service that they require due to the fact that we can’t get there when we need to, unless we leave at a ridiculous time in the morning.

“And also, if we need to get from A to B to get spares or to get parts, it takes us a long time.

“We can say we're going to do this, or we’re going to get that, and it doesn't happen because we get stuck in the traffic.

“So the schedule goes out and it's inefficient. It’s not good for the customer or for our business – it affects our profitability, that’s the bottom line, because time is money – it’s all about time.”

The difficulties getting around and across town have been aired in response to the Herald’s previous stories, including carers whose routine for visiting various people during a day has been upended by the current situation.

The work at the Alcester Road/Masons Road junction ended on Tuesday but the impact had been huge, notably for the X20 bus which had been switched away from the Birmingham Road on a diversion route of Alcester Road, Masons Road, Timothy’s Bridge Road and Bishopton Lane.

A spokesperson for Stagecoach said: “The issue we were facing was the combination of roadworks on Birmingham Road at the same time as temporary traffic lights on Alcester Road, which is the diversion route. These occurring at the same time resulted in significant disruption to services.

“An example of this is our 76 service from Banbury to Stratford, which was on time all the way from Banbury, but when reaching Stratford took 25 minutes to do the last mile of its journey.”

County Cllr Tim Sinclair (Cons, Stratford North) has been in the limelight with the work on the Warwick Road and now the Birmingham Road project.

He was on the case over the weekend when the red lights froze at Alcester Road/Masons Road.

He told the Herald: “When emergencies arise on the local road network, the utility providers have the right to go in without asking permission in order to do the necessary works and put up traffic management equipment as required.

“They simply need to let the council know they are doing this and Warwickshire County Council can’t prevent them.

“In this case National Grid notified WCC late on Friday that they were doing works.

“They dug a large hole, put up temporary three-way lights, presumably did some work and then left. Unfortunately, the lights then faulted, leaving every way on red.

“I became aware of this via social media over the weekend and got in touch with the emergency contacts at WCC I have. I believe residents also got in touch with the police, who in turn contacted WCC.

“When I inspected at 2pm on Sunday, an operative from National Grid’s traffic management company was on site and the lights were working correctly in all three directions.

“Unfortunately, they then failed again, and Monday morning was havoc there, particularly with the school traffic.

“I spoke again to the WCC team first thing and I could see that they were in touch with National Grid.

“However, this is incredibly frustrating, it shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

“Obviously, emergencies occur but the utility company needs to get in, sort the problem and get out again quickly, causing the minimum of disruption.

“The Stratford roads network is under strain anyway because of the planned works on the Birmingham Road and something like this on another arterial route brings everything to a standstill.”