Petworth Traffic Update - October 2022

Petworth Town Council (PTC) efforts to improve road safety and traffic calming in the town are progressing (albeit slowly!), and the current focus continues to be a 20 mph Zone designation for the entire town including North St and as much of Angel St as possible.

To this end a second 20 mph Zone application was made in January 2022, to the Community Highways Scheme (CHS).  All applications to this scheme are assessed and ranked in November/December each year by WSCC Highways, and we expect to be notified of the result towards the end of the year.

During the year PTC has been lobbying County and District Councillors, Chief of Police and our MP for support, as success will require an exception to guidelines, which we passionately believe is justified due to the unusual character of Petworth’s roads and North St in particular.

Our chances of success received a considerable boost in September when our MP, Andrew Griffiths, joined the Speedwatch team on North St early one Sunday morning for over an hour. He whole heartedly expressed support for the 20 Zone application and has written to both the Police and WSCC.

The application report is available on the PTC website and describes pavement widths, narrow road pinch-point locations, actual measured average speeds at more than 15 locations in and around the town, accident statistics, the results of initial consultation (with mitigation measures), and a preliminary zone design.

Reporting Dangerous or Anti-Social Driving

Any resident experiencing dangerous or anti-social driving is asked to report the incident to the Sussex Police via their ‘Operation Crackdown’ website.  This reporting system requires a number plate to be truly effective and the incidents often happen so quickly that a number plate cannot be recorded or remembered.  If that happens or you have any problem with the website then please just send an email with as much detailed information as possible to PTC Town Clerk.  Information required is approximate date, time, location, vehicle details and incident type.  PTC will keep a record of incidents to forward to our police liason officer.  Data is the key to getting action from the police who have to prioritise their resources.