Kenilworth resident said he would have ‘no hesitation in suing council’ over new speed bumps

A resident who objects to new speed bumps in Kenilworth will have “no hesitation in suing” Warwickshire County Council if they damage his wife’s car.

Plans to extend the scope of a 30 miles per hour (mph) speed limit by 230 metres and add in eight sets of speed bumps on Warwick Road, Kenilworth, have been approved despite seven objections.

The extension will take in the entrance to a new housing development to the east of the road with the bumps included to slow down vehicles that are going faster than 30 mph past the current change point.

The county council’s report noted more than 200 comments in support of the proposals, including backing from Warwickshire Police and local member Councillor Rik Spencer (Con, Kenilworth St John’s).

However, in line with its rules on overcoming objections in relation to traffic regulation orders (TROs) – powers that local authorities with responsibility for highways have to implement rules that govern the area’s roads – the final decision had to be referred to the councillor in charge, Councillor Jan Matecki (Con, Budbrooke & Bishop’s Tachbrook), portfolio holder for transport and planning.

The decision was signed off on Friday (December 8), despite the warning from one unhappy resident.

Chris Torbe suggested installing a speed camera instead of speed bumps and alleged that the council “does not have a good record of installing road humps as illustrated by the costs incurred following several attempts at getting it right in Leyes Lane”.

He went on to add: “The humps themselves damage a car’s suspension if frequently encountered, which (they) will be in our case.

“My wife’s car has low ground clearance so please be advised that if it is damaged by the height of these humps we will have no hesitation in suing the council.”

Highways officer Chris Round responded to the general observations made in the objections that were not withdrawn within his report for the council but there was no reference to Mr Torbe’s threat of litigation.

He noted that speed cameras were installed in conjunction with Warwickshire Police and in line with criteria that this project would not meet.

His report said: “The introduction of speed cushions is deemed to be the most appropriate measures for Warwick Road.

"The even spacing of the cushions will enable drivers to maintain a consistent speed along Warwick Road, instead of slowing down, or accelerating between them. This is the whole purpose of making the environment a lot safer for pedestrians by encouraging the use of sustainable forms of transport.”

Mr Round did, however, directly respond to the Leyes Lane comments.

“When the initial road humps were installed on Leyes Lane the contractor did make a mistake by installing the road humps too low, so there was minimum vertical deflection,” the report continued.

“This was quickly rectified by the site engineer who notified the contractor. Remedial works were paid for by the contractor, there was no extra cost to Warwickshire County Council.

“The scheme in Leyes Lane has clearly achieved what it was designed to achieve, as there have only been two slight injury accidents over the whole length of the road in the past three years.”