Over the past year, I’ve been trying to promote changes to Drumlanrig Square and to the upper part of Beaconsfield Terrace, for safety reasons. These are described earlier on this blog. Progress has however been slow! At Beaconsfield Terrace, more signage has been erected, and has been refreshed on the road surface, to highlight the 20 mph speed limit. Initially it had been hoped to extend the pedestrian barrier futher down the hill to restrict casual crossing at the wide junction , but this was said by locals to have the potential for creating problems, especially on the days when refuse or recyclates were to be uplifted. Comments more recently seem to suggest that greater police involvement is needed at this point, as it is the speed and style of driving which is being highlighted, as well as the number of drivers using mobile phones. Speed bumps are also being looked for but the advice from Roads officials is that these would be unacceptable at this particular location, as they create noise problems for adjacent residents but also because drivers in turning the corner would be crossing them at an angle and therefore four wheels would be individually bumping across them rather than two sets, again adding to the noise disturbance.

At Drumlanrig Square, the road layout plans are pretty well finalised and it is the parking situation which is causing the delay. Residents and business proprietors have made clear that they do not want any less parking than was previously available. On the east side of the Square, two scenarios are possible and these are being examined to decide which would allow maximum parking while allowing deliveries to businesses and the free movement of buses. I feel it is better to take longer to study the scheme than to make mistakes and have to go back to the drawing board!

For some time, I have been concerned about road safety in the Drumlanrig Square area. Nearby residents have spoken to me on the subject, and it has also cropped up in connection with Drumlanrig School’s Safer Routes to School discussions.

Problems are mainly at the upper end of the Square, and are likely to become worse when the new housing development there is completed.

• On the eastern side of the Square, there is a Give Way arrangement at the bottom, but not at the top. Neither side has ‘Right of Way’ at this point.

• Unofficial parking happens on the lined triangle at the top of the garden, creating blind spots for drivers, who may not be able to see other traffic approaching up the other side of the Square.

• It is difficult for pedestrians to cross the Square at the top, as it is such a wide area.

• The developments at the West Port and at Drumlanrig Hospital at present each have their own outlet to the wide area at the top of the Square. There are therefore five roads coming together at this point.

• Children walking up through the Square to get to school have to cross a wide opening at this point without the safety of a pavement.

• Parking in the area is important and therefore any suggestions for change had to deliver at least the same number of parking spaces.

I have met several times with the Council’s Roads officials to look at what might be done to make the area safer. Proposals have been amended two or three times to try to deliver a workable scheme which would help road safety while hopefully maintaining an attractive appearance for the Square.

The map shows a possible design for such a road layout. The key point is that it confirms the main route through the Square as being on the west side. The east side would still be entirely accessible for deliveries, buses and for parking, and the West Port and Drumlanrig Hospital developments would meet to give only one junction with the road through the Square.

Please let me know what you think . . . . . .

Do you think this layout is workable, or would you like to suggest changes?

I have delivered a leaflet around homes and businesses nearest to Drumlanrig Square, have spoken to the Hawick News and the suggestions will then be brought to meetings of Teviot & Liddesdale Area Committee and Hawick Community Council.

Constructive comments will be considered as they are received and the proposals ‘tweaked’ where appropriate.

Comments will therefore be welcomed and can be sent by e-mail to rsmith@scotborders.gov.uk

or by post to Cllr. Ron Smith, Scottish Borders Council, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose, TD6 0SA

In January, Ron was informed that the minibus service which had been running from Kielder to Hawick on Wednesdays and Saturdays for several years had been withdrawn. This left residents in the Saughtree, Riccarton, Steele Road areas in particular without a link. He had several meetings with those responsible within the council for promoting bus services to press for a replacement service, and arrangements have now been made with Peter Hogg of Jedburgh to provide demand responsive transport between Saughtree and Hawick on Fridays only commencing 6 June. Passengers will have to contact Peter Hogg by telephoning 01835 863755 the day before to request the transport operates. DRT is possibly more commonly referred to as a ‘taxi bus’ service.

The service will leave Saughtree at approximately 11.15 to Hawick arrive 11.55. Return transport will leave from Hawick Mart Street at 13.50.

A leaflet will be produced showing the above information.

A response sent by those council officers to John Lamont MP who recently queried the situation states: ”We have been actively supported …. by Councillor Ron Smith who has provided valuable information at a time when information is at a premium”.

This has been a good outcome, but the service will only succeed if it is used. Please help by spreading news of it.

Since the elections in May 2007, Ron has been much involved in a series of issues affecting the community at Craik and in the upper Borthwick valley. In the last few years, residents have faced the development of a large log cabin development at Craik, a planning application for a wind-farm at Langhope Rig between Blawearie and Ashkirk (which would have meant the use of the road from Martin’s Bridge to Alemoor by construction traffic), the shared headship of Roberton and Drumlanrig Primary Schools, a national pilot scheme to investigate sustainable flood prevention in the area between Eilrig and Craik, and continuing problems related to timber transport.

It has become very clear that some of these issues would have been negotiated more smoothly with better communication between the community and the Council in the early stages. Ron has set out to try to improve these links. Rebuilding trust will take a long time, but he has already promoted greater transparency and more frequent discussions.

He, with fellow Hawick & Hermitage councillor George Turnbull, sits on the Timber Transport Group, and he has also been building relationships with Tweed Forum and with SBC’s Technical Services officers who are involved with the flood prevention pilot.

This pilot has been the focus of much discontent. The original terms of reference were not clear to the community and so there has been ongoing suspicion. The aim is to investigate whether measures might be taken on the low-lying haughland which would slow down floodwater and so help protect communities downstream. This is an issue where very little scientific evidence, and few case studies, at present exist. Examples of measures include the reinstatement of old meanders across the haughland, planting of willow and similar species along the bankings on the edge of the floodplain, planting willows across the haughland etc.. The impact of such measures on the Borthwick’s flow will be assessed on a very local scale, trying to isolate the effect of each one as much as is possible.

Local residents have long held worries re the connection between clear felling of timber and flooding, but very recently assurances have been given that the effect of the former is very small. While clear felling such as currently taking place at Laird’s Hill near Howpasley looks massive, its impact is greatest in the headwater streams in that immediate area – with only a 5-15% increase in flow in the higher order river, i.e. in the Borthwick itself – as Laird’s Hill is only a small part of the whole Borthwick Water basin.

The complex junction at the top of Beaconsfield Terrace where it is joined firstly by Loan and then by Gladstone Street / Myreslawgreen is seen by Ron and by local residents as a dangerous area. Three schools are in the immediate area, and a high proportion of the residents are elderly. Crossing the Terrace requires extreme care and precise timing.

Problems include the speed of traffic entering from Loan, and the pile-up of traffic as cars coming up Beaconsfield Terrace are politely given priority, often then blocking traffic leaving Gladstone Street.

Ron has met on site with SBC Roads officers, and a plan was mooted to extend the pedestrian barrier further down the eastern side of Beaconsfield Terrace as far as a new pedestrian crossing. Road lining will be renewed and new vertical signage erected, reminding of speed limits and the need for care.

Residents in the area were notified by letter of the possibilities and some comments were received. It was suggested that extending the barrier down the street could create additional problems on refuse collection days, when wheeliebins etc. would accumulate at the bottom end and hinder pedestrians. This comment has been taken on board and the possibilities will be looked at again.

Nearby, Ron and the officers also considered the traffic patterns at the top of Drumlanrig Square where the priorities for traffic using the two sides of the Square are further confused at the Drumlanrig Court / West Port exit and the new exit from the Drumlanrig Hospital development. Plans will be drawn up for the remodelling of the roadway in this area.

In autumn 2007, Morrisons supermarket in Hawick followed company policy by identifying one taxi firm which would be a preferred provider. They also barred taxis from waiting within their property. This displaced the taxis into neighbouring streets and local residents protested.

Ron arranged for a new taxi rank to be created in the Mart Street car park, from which they had not previously been allowed to trade. He saw this as an excellent alternative being adjacent to the Mart Street bus stances as well as only a very short walk from the Morrisons shop entrance. It seems now to be operating very satisfactorily.

Hawick’s six local councillors are unanimous in their support for the trial One Way System for the town’s High Street, due to begin in February 2008. The six visited all businesses located on High Street and found general approval of the measure. Flow of traffic will be from North (Horse) to South (Towerknowe) and will be accompanied by a ban on traffic weighing over 7.5 tonnes in Bourtree Place and High Street, and in the lower streets of the Wellogate area around Lochpark. It is expected that there will be an increase in parking spaces on High Street, and an easing of the difficulties encountered by lorries delivering to shops.

It’s important that the scheme works (and can be continued after the trial period) and so a Stakeholders Group under the chairmanship of local businessman Tom Hartop has been set up to allow all parties affected by the scheme to have their say, with the possibility of tweaking arrangements during the period of the trial.

The opportunity is being taken in tandem with the One Way Trial to implement some popular measures, such as the moving of the loathed bus stance outside Boots shop and the creation of a Puffin crossing in Bourtree Place at the Coffin End.