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Opinion : Should parking be banned in West Wycombe High Street?

| July 22, 2019

Have you heard about the collision that took place in West Wycombe High Street last week?

If not then it was reported in an article that appeared in the news section of this site entitled ‘Car struck a parked car in the High Street, West Wycombe‘.

As anyone who visits West Wycombe regularly will know the High Street is narrow anyway without having cars parked beside the road adding to the problems.

Indeed it comes as no surprise to my good self that a car collided with a parked car in West Wycombe High Street. In fact it surprises me there are not more collisions there with the parking and narrowness of the road.

West Wycombe High Street is not far from my ancestral home so my good self decided to take a look at the problem for myself firsthand.

It was amazing how many large lorries use the road, indeed being the A40 from London to Oxford, it is a main route for traffic of all shapes, sizes and weights.

Yours truly watched as a large juggernaut waited, behind the row of parked cars, for the oncoming traffic to clear. Once the road was clear the large vehicle gingerly made its way along the High Street as the  windows in the Grade II listed buildings rattled in their frames.

Another juggernaut had been waiting patiently at the Pedestal end of the High Street for the first gargantuan vehicle to clear.

As can be seen in the picture (below) the road, with the parked cars, was just not wide enough for the second lorry to pass simultaneously.

Think of all the delays the parking is creating, indeed the roadside parking is the main cause of the bottleneck in the road.

What about the pollution from the cars waiting in the queue for the oncoming traffic to pass?

So what can be done to solve the problem? Well, surely it’s time to ban the roadside parking and open the road up to two way traffic? After all there is a very good free car park just a short distance away in Chorley Road at the site of the old garden centre.

Perhaps the powers that be could come up with plans for a West Wycombe bypass to route the traffic around the narrow High Street?

Or maybe traffic lights should be installed to control the traffic so it can only flow in one direction at a time?

I fear the powers that be have wasted money ‘Masterplaning’ the roads in Wycombe town centre when surely West Wycombe High Street (aka the A40) was the road that needed attention?

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From a safety perspective yours truly is surprised that buildings jutting out into the pavement (as shown in the picture above) is allowed in this age of health and safety, especially as there is a school nearby. Shockingly there aren’t even any road signs warning motorists that pedestrians may be in the road due to the narrowness of the pavement.

How long will it be before another collision takes place? Or even worse, a car collides with a pedestrian pushing a pram with a baby in it as the parent walks into road to negotiate the narrow pavement?

What do you think?

My blogs are published regularly here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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