Leamington and Warwick MP joins battle to end village's 18-year "traffic nightmare"

Villagers have gained Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western's support in their 18-year-long battle against “nightmare” traffic through Hampton-on-the-Hill.

Mr Western says residents of the village near Warwick told him they have for years endured noisy, polluting queues of cars and lorries passing by their doorsteps.

Since 2004, the villagers have been calling on Warwickshire County Council to install traffic calming measures in Hampton Road.

But residents say the authority has so far taken no action to alleviate congestion.

They have also asked for a ‘haul route’ to be built to prevent construction vehicles from using the road when travelling to two large housing developments being built in neighbouring Hampton Magna.

They want Warwick District Council to include the route as a condition of planning approval for any future expansion of the developments.

The works mean that heavy vehicles regularly travel up and down the small road which has tight pinch points and chicanes – which only make the traffic worse, residents say.

They claim the vibration from the traffic and the vehicles has caused structural damage to the street and its older houses.

Mr Western said: “Warwickshire County Council and Warwick District Council must act to alleviate the concerns of the residents who have waited far too long for traffic calming measures to be implemented.

“But a wider reconsideration is needed as figures show 4,000 more homes than the 16,700 legally required are set to be built in Warwick district.

“A recalculation of the housing and the cancellation of needless developments need would solve problems like this in many of Warwick and Leamington’s leafier, peripheral communities.

“A haul route must at the very least be a condition in a planning application for the future expansion of the developments.”

The haul route would lead off Hampton Road - the A4189 adjacent to playing fields - before it reaches the village.

Residents hope it would be made a permanent relief road and be paid for by developers Miller Homes and Bellway Homes who are responsible for the two Hampton Magna developments.

The route was previously requested as part of the planning application for one of the developments before it was omitted during an appeal, residents say.

A village resident of 25 years and member of Hampton-on-the-Hill Residents’ Association, who asked not to be named, said: “Residents have consistently complained about speeding traffic which has become a nightmare for the village.

“Three separate weeklong speed surveys were carried out in 2015, 2018 and 2020 and all recorded over 40 per cent of traffic exceeding the speed limit.

“Over the last two years, heavy construction traffic has come through our village causing damage to the older buildings.

“We want effective traffic calming measures put in place now to slow traffic – such as speed humps, which have been in place and used to good effect elsewhere in Warwick and Leamington.”

A Warwickshire County Council spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, the county council has limited powers to prevent HGV’s using particular roads.

"While we provide strong advice to HGV drivers, and to those responsible for running services which require the transport of goods and services using HGVs, that they should always use the most appropriate strategic roads and primary roads in the first instance, and avoid using other A, B and minor roads until absolutely necessary for access purposes, we have limited ability to formally enforce this.

"We do seek, where appropriate, to work with the local planning authority to include planning conditions on developments to restrict the times of day/day of the week when deliveries and construction activities can take place; and include a requirement for a construction management plan to minimise disruption to local residents.

"These conditions, however, must be set and enforced by the local planning authority.

“With regard to traffic calming measures, Hampton already has village gateways and traffic calming in the form of road narrowings.

"The village has an excellent road safety record, with no personal injury collisions recorded over the last five years.

" As such, the County Council cannot justify further traffic calming measures at this time.”

Warwick District Council has said it will wait to see if the county council’s stance on traffic calming measures in the village changed.

A spokeswoman for the district council said: “We would be in more of a position to comment at a later stage if and when it came to be.”