Soham councillor says poor state of town’s roads could cause accident

A SOHAM councillor claims that roads in the town are in such poor condition that they could cause a serious accident.

Councillor Julie Webb told community website Shape Your Place that areas such as Brook Street had become a “rat run due to people avoiding the humps on Fordham Road.”

She said: “It would be much better if the humps were removed along with the silly little round about near Mill Croft and maybe other speeding measures put in perhaps the same as the lights down the Shade”

She added: “I know it comes to cost but as a Soham town councillor I would like to see the infrastructure of our road system assessed before we have a serious incident.

“I also agree that Clay Street should be looked at in the view of making it a one way system it is one of our most congested roads with many more using this due to the new build on the old Mill site.”

She said the state of roads was “a big topic in the town” and residents were concerned for their safety.

“I hope we can get some positive feed back very soon on this issue,” she said.

The county council told Cllr Webb that the cost of funding all the requests for improvements to the county road network “always exceeds the budgets that the county council is able to allocate for such work, especially in the current economic climate”.

A spokesman said it had to prioritise the works to be carried out “which means that the council is unable to deliver many of the measures being requested by local communities.”

The spokesman suggested Cllr Webb gets the town council involved in funding improvements, a suggestion offered to all town and parish councils where the local feeling is improvements are needed.

“Funding would need to cover the cost of procuring and installing the measure as well as its ongoing maintenance,” he said.

The county council also suggested bidding for funds through a local highways improvements scheme which carry offers of up to £10,000 for communities.