Families in plea for traffic to be slowed

Residents will be attending a community forum meeting in Rugeley to call for urgent action to slow down traffic on a local road.

People in Bower Lane have been campaigning for two years to get traffic calming measures introduced.

Insp Chris Ellerton, of Staffordshire Police, and Staffordshire County Council highways officer Wayne Mortiboys will be giving a progress report at the Rugeley and Brereton Community Forum meeting which will be held at Rugeley Rose Theatre on September 9.

Bower Lane resident Simon Porter will be putting a question at the meeting asking when action will be taken.

A petition has been organised, signed by more than half the residents, supporting the call for traffic calming.

Mr Porter, who has lived in Bower Lane for six years, says the road is suffering visible damage from the volume of traffic which is using the route.

"Unless a police officer is present a large proportion of motorists, including many locals, still blatantly ignore the 30mph limit day and night to the detriment of residents' health and safety," he says.

The residents have also teamed up with Rugeley police to operate a community Speedwatch scheme where volunteers using a laser gun note down the registration plate of drivers going above 36mph.

Warning letters are being sent out and repeat offenders are visited by police.

Bower Lane is also suffering from alleged subsidence and damage because of the amount of traffic using the lane and lorries from the nearby Cemex quarry.

More than 100 lorries a day use the lane.

Residents are concerned that the dangerous state of the road could also lead to a serious accident.

Staffordshire Highways have been carrying out safety inspections on the lane.