We have completed the Traffic Calming Poll and this post details the process we have been through, the results and the next steps. It is split into sections.
Summary
Background outlines why we did the poll
Consultation Process outlines the consultations we have done
Traffic Calming Poll Results details the results and recommendation from the poll
Next steps outline the next steps in the process
Summary
The residents of Kitchener, Hobson, Manilla, Fashoda and Cecil Roads have for many years been subjected to traffic using their roads as a short cut between Pershore Road and Dogpool Lane.
As part of a neighbourhood consultation, a Traffic Calming Poll was co-designed by the community and experts, to help inform potential solutions.
The poll was shared online, via flyers and in person - and was completed by 51.1% of households, 243 residents.
Results provide a high level of confidence that residents would like to close the junctions of Kitchener and Hobson Roads with Pershore Road.
The next step involves working with Transport West Midlands, to find a way to get this delivered, ensuring there are no serious disadvantages that haven't so far been considered.
Background
The residents of the five roads (Kitchener, Hobson, Manilla, Fashoda and Cecil Roads) have for many years been subjected to traffic using their roads as a short cut between Pershore Road and Dogpool Lane. It causes an increase in traffic but the biggest issue is the behaviour of the drivers. We have heard dozens of accounts of
excessive speeding
residents nearly being hit by speeding cars
parents concerned about the safety of their children
abuse from drivers who are too impatient to wait while you park or remove your child from their car seat.
There have been efforts over the years to address the problem. They include attempts to improve traffic flow at the Dogpool Lane and Pershore Road junction, and introducing no right turns off Dogpool Lane and no left turns off Pershore Road. We also worked with a local school on the 'This is My Street Too' signs. Nothing has worked, so we have been through a process to better understand the issues and find possible solutions.
Consultation Process
There have been a number of consultations in the process which started in 2020:
Street Survey Autumn 2020
This was not a traffic survey but in response to the question 'What don't you like about your street?' 43% of the responses were traffic related. The top two answers to 'What would you change if you could about your street?' were speed bumps and to close off junctions to make the area a cul de sac.
Traffic Calming Survey Jan 2024
In order to understand what issues residents were experiencing and what they saw as potential solutions, we did the Traffic Calming Survey in January 2024. To ensure good participation we:
delivered a flyer to every household in the Forum's area inviting residents to participate
sent invitations to participate to the Forum's email list, the local Facebook Group and local WhatsApp Groups
discussed at the Forum's Open Meeting on January 18th.
There were 96 responses to the survey. Nearly 100% of you who replied thought speed, volume and irresponsible driving were issues. There were two leading suggestions; close junctions so there is no through route (40% of you mentioned this) and speed bumps (38%).
Designing the Traffic Calming Poll January 2024 to June 2024
During this period we took the suggested solutions from the survey and discussed the next steps with residents, our Councillors, the Council's Transport and Connectivity team, Better Streets for Birmingham, Sustrans and Transport for West Midlands. These were discussed at Forum Open Meetings on the 5th of March and the 21st of May. All residents were invited to these by flyers delivered to all households in the Forum area, by emails sent to the Forum's email contacts and on social media.
The process culminated with a public meeting on the 28th of May supported directly and indirectly by all the parties listed above. We looked at the advantages and disadvantages of different proposals, combining the experts facts with residents knowledge of the area, to determine how effective and feasible the proposals were. The output is the document below which will be used as the basis for the poll.
Traffic Calming Poll June and July 2024
The poll was carried out online and by going door-to-door
Leaflets were delivered to all the households in the five roads inviting residents to participate in early June and a week before the poll closed.
Online requests to participate were made on four occasions using the Forum's email contacts, Facebook and local WhatsApp groups.
To ensure the poll had a representative sample of residents, we visited over 50 households to do face-to-face interviews.
Traffic Calming Poll Results
Engagement
The level of engagement was good. As the number or residents in the five roads is not known, we used the number of households (there are 389 in Kitchener, Hobson, Manilla, Fashoda and Cecil Roads) to gauge the level of engagement.
51.1% of households participated
243 residents participated
There was good distribution of respondents from each road, the pie chart shows the % of total respondents from each road. Manilla Road was under represented as it has 24% of the households. Cecil Road was over represented as it has 21% of the households.
Results from All Participants
Results have been processed based on:
1) All participants of the poll (this section)
2) Respondents from randomly selected households (following section)
Based on the first choice from all the participants, there was a clear preference to close the junctions of Kitchener and Hobson Roads with Pershore Road. 66% chose this.
We asked for the participants to rank the options so that we could use an alternative vote system where the vote of those who picked the least popular option (speed bumps) were transferred to their second choice. Their preferred second choice was to close the junctions of Kitchener and Hobson Roads with Pershore Road.
We repeated the process so that the vote of those who picked the second least popular option (leave things as they are) were transferred to their second choice. Where the second choice had already been eliminated, the vote was transferred to their third choice. It showed that they preferred to close the junctions of Kitchener and Hobson Roads with Pershore Road over closing the junctions of Manilla, Fashoda and Cecil Roads to Dogpool Lane.
Based on all the participants of the survey (243 residents from 51% of the households) the preferred option is to close the junctions of Kitchener and Hobson Roads with Pershore Road.
Results from a Random Sample
We have a good level of confidence in the result form all the participants due to the good engagement and clear preference. However, this approach requires people to feel motivated enough to participate. The standard practice in these cases is to have a random sample. If the sample is completely random and large enough, it will give a clearer idea of the result we would get if everyone had participated. So before we started the poll, 108 households were randomly selected (25% of households plus 10 to allow for no responses) and we tried to get responses from all of them.
It should be noted
It wasn’t possible to get a response from 14 households and these were replaced by a random selection from the remaining households.
There were seven households where a response wasn’t possible by the end of the survey. This was multiplied by the average number of respondents per household for the analysis.
We didn't get a response from every person in every household.
There were a significant number of residents who said they didn’t mind what happened.
Based on the first choice from all the participants, there was a clear preference to close the junctions of Kitchener and Hobson Roads with Pershore Road. 49% chose this. If the Don't Minds are removed, this rises to 62%.
We asked for the participants to rank the options so that we could use an alternative vote system where the vote of those who picked the least popular option (speed bumps) were transferred to their second choice. Their preferred second choice was to close the junctions of Kitchener and Hobson Roads with Pershore Road.
We repeated the process so that the vote of those who picked the second least popular option (leave things as they are) were transferred to their second choice. Where the second choice had already been eliminated, the vote was transferred to their third choice. It showed that they preferred to close the junctions of Kitchener and Hobson Roads with Pershore Road over closing the junctions of Manilla, Fashoda and Cecil Roads to Dogpool Lane.
If we remove the Don't Minds from the sample, we have a similar result to the result from all the participants.
Conclusion from the Poll
We have a high level of confidence that the residents would like to close the junctions of Kitchener and Hobson Roads with Pershore Road.
Next Steps
At this stage, all we have is the view of the residents of the five roads which has been guided by the opinions of experts as to its advantages and disadvantages. The next step involves finding a way to get this delivered and ensure that there aren't any serious disadvantages that haven't so far been considered.
To this end, we have been in discussions with Transport for West Midlands throughout the process. They are working on cross-city bus routes with the aim of improving journey times, improving reliability, reducing delays and reducing congestion. The routes include Pershore Road. They see that reducing traffic using the Kitchener and Hobson to Pershore Road junctions could be beneficial so we have shared the results of the poll with them. Our preference to close the junctions of Kitchener and Hobson Roads with Pershore Road is being taken to their internal steering group with the recommendation to include it in the plans they designing and developing at the moment. These should then go out for wider consultation in winter 24/25.
Unfortunately there is uncertainty over the timing of the cross city bus plans. The new West Midlands Major has said there is a funding shortfall for transport plans in the region which 'has unfortunately resulted in a reduction in delivery funding for the cross city bus programme in the short term. However, we are continuing with the design/development work so that all cross city schemes are in a position to progress when funding becomes available. We will also need to prioritise which aspects are delivered with the funding that is still available. Therefore, we are still hoping to carry out public consultation in winter 24/25.' We will of course keep in touch with them on their progress.
If we are unable to make progress with TfWM we will look at alternative funding opportunities.
Can the Forum give the preferences of the residents on Kitchener Road and Hobson Road to the survey.