Email to Carl Sargeant about 20 mph zones

Hi Carl

Here's a brand new Flintshire County Council 4 wheeler, possibly Highways Dept

entering a 20 mph zone in Flint that the Council refuse to consider for Chester Rd, Penyffordd.

We (FCC) have no money left I seem to remember.

regards Colin

http://penyffordd-district.blogspot.com/

Rock Dove

Inquisitive on the balcony.

Bob

Penyffordd Speeding

Charles Hughes Flintshire Highways leaves Chester Rd Penyffordd to the 2000 daily speeders.
Dave Faulkner Director of Environment watches on.

Flintshire County Council leaves Chester Rd, Penyffordd to fend for its self

2000 speeding motorists a day, 100's of noisy HGV's speeding between 30 - 70 mph along Chester Rd which is a 30 mph village road. Yes we have a By-Pass. Sorry we can't help, signed by The Acting Director for the Environment and Regeneration. What can one say. You couldnt make it up.

Where are the customers' yachts?

Once in the dead days beyond recall, an out-of-town visitor was being shown the wonders of the New York Financial District. When the party arrived at the docks his guides indicated the handsome ships riding at anchor. Look those are the Bankers' and Brokers' yachts.
But where are the Customers' yachts? asked the visitor.

Carl Sargeant AM writes to Chris Kay with regards speeding motorists on Chester Rd Penyffordd

Hi Carl

Thanks for your letter to Chris Kay of which you have sent me a copy

We need to bear in mind the following

We have 2000 plus speeders a day (Hugh Jones (Arrive Alive) has the data) My figure is an educated guess

We have many HGV's

I'm quite prepared to sit outside and photograph all the HGV's passing

through Chester Rd if it will help to get them stopped

HGV's are normally stopped going through local villages

if there is a large development taking place locally.

Arrive Alive will not stop this many speeders. (Their remit mainly is for roads that kill people)

I'm looking for at least 3 people to sacrifice their lives to get Arrive Alive to take notice ( Black Joke)

I have a letter under construction for ArriveAlive Management

Verticle platforms will slow them down to 30 mph if designed properly.

Verticle Platforms are used everywhere now, I think Flintshire Highways dont like them on Trunk Roads

They dont like ( I Think) Compulsory 20 mph zones, Cheshire and Wrexham now have them everywhere

36mph in a 20 mph gets you 4 points on the license.

Flintshire County Council have a duty under the Local Government Act 2000 in The Environment section

They are not showing a duty to Chester Rd Penyffordd at the moment.

Thank you for your continuing support

regards Colin

Advice for villages plagued by Speeding Motorists

Transport 2000, Click here.

Villagers given Radar Speed Guns

Pentrefoelas Villagers were given speed guns to record speeding motorists.
Click here.
Whittlebury Village. Click here.
Shaldon Village. Click here.

Pink Limo in Hawarden Street Penyffordd

Unusual Photo

Proposed letter to Arrive alive (content will change before sending )

Essi Ahari
Manager, Arrive Alive
North Wales Casualty Reduction Partnership

25/05/2007

Refs: HUGH01049/01070361
SCFL26.2

Dear Essi,
I have received a copy of your letter to Carl Sargeant AM with regards my complaint (and speaking for other Chester Rd residents) about speeding traffic in Chester Road, Penyffordd.
My main concern is safety and road noise and keeping Chester Road as part of a village environment and not the preferred speeding route for 900,000 outsiders each year.

Hugh Jones (SRO) informed me that we now qualify because his monitor registered Chester Rd because we have an 85th percentile of 32 mph.
Vounog Hill, Penyffordd has an 85th percentile of 39 mph so I presume merits more attention
as do most the other sites mentioned on your web.
( http://www.arrivealive.org.uk/comconcern/)
Chester Road gets the rat run speeders from both Vounog and Corwen Rd.
Hugh placed his instrument in a good place to show the endemic speeding that goes on most mornings, lunchtimes and evenings in Penyffordd. Chester Rd.

There is however a corrupting factor which is the Penymynydd Rd exit into Chester Rd. Most vehicles that exit Penymynydd Rd into Chester Rd and travel towards Broughton will be in 2nd gear when passing the monitor. Our 85 percentile should be 40 plus. There are a large number of Penymynydd / Penyffordd households that use the Chester Rd as an exit to Broughton as Penymynydd Roundabout is a "no no" 8-30 - 9.00 am due to queues. The bottom line being we get all the speeders from the Vounog and Corwen Rd and scrape through on the qualifying figures because large amounts of residents from the Wellhouse Estate and the estate below
water the figures downwards..
Your qualifying system is highly unfair. Averages are useless. The number of vehicles breaking the speed limit their actual speed are the figures that matter. The watering down of the figures with below limit vehicle speeds and naming it as some really fancy technical term such as percentile is unfair to residents in villages.

Whilst still on percentiles. Trelawnyd and Chester Rd have the same percentile of 32mph. Chester Rd is a wide open road, Trelawnyd is narrow has a blind bend in the middle that has parked cars. Doing 60 mph plus on Chester Rd is easy, doing 50 mph in the middle of Trelawnyd verges on suicidal, yet they have the same figure.

The percentile figure shows no true grasp of the situation at all, the figure just obsfucates, just as that word does. :)

Each day we have approximately 2000 plus speeding cars through Chester Rd from 5.30 - 9.00 am, 12.00am - 2.00pm and the home rat run 16.00 18.30 pm with many hundreds of speeders in between and after. Chester Road Penyffordd is open season.
The pass through figures may double with UDP and Warren Hall to 2.1 million cars through Chester Rd within 5 years.

So far Arrive Alive have been to Chester Rd about 3 times. High profile with fluorescents, they have caught 2 stupid delivery people who must have been blind. My personal survey carried out between 7. 16 and 9.00 am on the morning of the meeting registered the following.
Results
Totals for Going Out of the village (Up Chester Rd) for 104 minutes (Wednesday 2nd May between 7.16 and 9.00am)
Perceived over 30 mph = 329 vehicles
Perceived under 30 mph = 93 vehicles
Total going out of village = 422
My figures are a good representation of the speeds on the day, I can estimate a cars speed by sight or road noise.

The meeting with Hugh, Charles Hughes (Head of Engineering) plus an asscociate and councillors was in hindsite a disappointment. It would have been better if the chairman of the meeting had had some scientific calming methods in front of him. I had the information but I'm just a little busy body for whom he has little time. He sits in his Cul de Sac, me I witness this daily insult on our village first hand

The Driver Awareness so far is of no use to the 400 odd vehicles that have been speeding through Chester from 5. 30 - 9.00 am or to the other 2000 speeding cars that pass through Chester Rd after they have left.
Nor I think will it be ever be an efficient use of your employees and the Police time
It does however look good in the paper. It is however just a token.

The rumble strips are a cheap token unless built to the height of the rumble strips on entry to Llandulas from Abergele.

A permanent Pro active sign for both directions in Chester Rd might help.

A raised platform outside the Post Office would help, a look at removing double yellows outside Post Office too.

Making outside the Post Office a long single lane would help (visit Cefn Mawr)

The total removal of lorries in the village except for access should be a necessity.

Making Penyffordd ONE WAY. Exits via Chester Rd, Corwen Rd, Hawarden Rd and Wrexham Rd. Entry via the middle of the By-Pass at Hawarden Rd. Through Traffic gone in an instant. Flint Town has a one way Trunk Rd, why not us?

These idiots only respond to 2 controls. Points on license and an inability of their vehicle to go faster than 30 mph without wrecking it.

In the end though the idiots speed through here 18 hours a day so the ultimate method of calming has to be mechanical road calming.

Raised Platforms are recognised as The Standard for Traffic Calming.
Most other Counties excepting Flintshire have adopted 20 mph compulsory zones, why not us in Flintshire. Chester Rd is on the school route for Children, OAP's and the horse route.

Your last comment hopes to reassure me (Through Carl Sargeant) that steps are being taken to address the issue of speeding traffic in Chester Road, Penyffordd. Sadly you have not even scratched the surface.
Penyffordd rushes on into the 21 st century ignorant that Chester Road is the second by pass for Penyffordd. A Rat Run for Airbus, Raytheon employees and workers in the Chester Area. Looking forward to 1.5 million unwelcome visitors a year. I leave you with the following. Flintshire County Council is neglecting this village entirely under the provisions of Local Government Act 2000 with regards to our environment. We have 2000 daily speeders through Penyffordd.

Note Discuss Arrivalive Road signs and Northop
Note Discuss Number of vans
Note Discuss Arrive Alive Finances
Discuss Human Rights
Discuss Terrace Lane

Your sincerely

Colin


Colin Hughes

tresmegistes@gmail.com

http://penyffordd-district.blogspot.com/




ps I would wish for a copy of the 5 day traffic data that was collected prior to the meeting which Hugh Jones attended at The Institute.

village photos logo

Carl Sargeant AM writes to Arrive Alive with regards speeding motorists on Chester Rd Penyffordd

Click on letter to read. I can improve the image quality of the letter but it will take longer to load.
I thank Carl for his efforts. I will be sending a letter to Essi Ahari, Manager of the Arrive Alive North Wales Road Casualty Reduction Partnership (deep breath) on their system for monitoring speeding traffic and the false view they arrive at. The Arrive Alive Monitor suggest an average of 32mph. It does NOT look like an average of 32 mph where I am standing. We have one idiot motorcyclist that comes past my house at 80mph, his days are numbered..........No, I'm not going to put a 4x3 plank across the road, I will report him to PC Ian Millington when I manage to video him or get a picture. I will explain why the data for Chester Rd is flawed in my letter to The Partnership.

Depressed

A depression is forming within me with regards to traffic calming in Chester Rd, Penyffordd.
2000 motorists a day continue to speed through village.
Polluting Chester Rd with long chains of noisy racing vehicles
Everyone sitting on their hands..........................
2000 a day speeders and it feels like it.

A letter to Hugh Jones Arrive Alive

Hugh Jones

Arriva Live

Arrive Alive Safer Roads Officer
Transportation Planning & Environment
County Hall
Mold

23/5/2007

Hi Hugh

Thanks for coming out this morning's high profile visit with PC Ian Millington our Beat Manager.

Next time a visit at 7.30 am would be a better time.

You have a spare pro active sign, will you consider it for Chester Rd please?

With regards to the small square ArriveAlive signs that are put on lamposts.

You say that they are only installed where ArriveAlive visit regularly.

I feel they have a role where they are installed in villages you visit less regularly.

As they show that speeding is a problem and the van could be in the vicinity.

It shows the village is not happy with speeders.

As Penyffordd is known as a soft touch they might help to reinforce the message

that we are a soft touch no more!

This morning whilst we were there, there was little traffic. At certain times of the day it

is very noisy here. Sound bounces off the walls of houses amplifying sound.

I am looking for the data with regards noise levels and speed. I think noise levels nearly double

with each 10 mph increase. As 100's of vehicles each day travel through Chester Rd

at speeds of 40 mph to 50 mph the noise is very irritating for myself and other Chester Rd residents.

As well as being dangerous for villagers and their children.

As mentioned I feel Flintshire County Council are failing in their responsibility for

our village environment under the Local Government Act 2000 or its Welsh equivalent.

We have have lots of HGV's coming through this village that have no business here.

There should be a 7.5 ton limit except for access.

As mentioned I will petition Airbus and Raytheon about their Corporate Responsiblity

with regards to their employees speeding through our village everyday.

I personally would like to see a 20mph speed limit outside the Post Office.

It is on the School Route and near the school.

HGV's banned from village except for access.

A platform system to slow down traffic in Chester Road.

Arrive Alive is only one aspect of Traffic Calming

Our elected officials need to get more involved.

As mentioned Cheshire, Manchester and Wrexham Coucils all have many 20 mph

zones in place.

At the end of the day Penyffordd is a small Welsh village and should remain so.

Not a Rat Run and Short Cut for outside traffic.

kindest regards

Colin

Colin Hughes

Penyffordd Resident

http://penyffordd-district.blogspot.com

copy to Local Newspapers, MP, AM, Councillors

HGV Restrictions in Chester Rd Penyffordd

We have a bypass that is fine for through HGV traffic. Trouble is its quicker to come through the village.

Links
http://www.rutland.gov.uk/ppimageupload/Image7512.PDF

Ashford Council.
The Highways Unit has a positive effect on the quality of life for all whom live, work
and visit the Borough. Increased traffic threatens people’s quality of life because of
the increased noise, fumes, vibrations and risk of crashes. It can weaken community
life by dividing areas leading to social exclusion and can threaten commercial vitality.
The Council’s Corporate Plan sets out a clear mission to ‘protect and improve the
quality of life of every resident of the Borough, now and in the future’. Closely linked
to this mission is a clear set of core aims to protect and improve the local
environment. One of the ways we are achieving a better environment is through the
Boroughs’ Traffic Management Investigation Programme for Rural Areas.

Rural North Bucks area strategy

4.19 A feature of the public consultations was the demand for traffic calming in villages. This is particularly so in Rural North Bucks where to date over 20% of parishes are indicating a wish to jointly explore possible traffic calming with the County Council. It is clear that the principal perceived problems are speeding and ‘rat-running’ with their consequences for safety and the local environment.

Its my Birthday today

I'm 53 today. As one gets older birthdays become less welcoming. Anyway I have no outside work (travelling) today. Most of what I do cannot be classed as work because I enjoy doing it. A meal here tonight with friends. Have asked Lisa if I can send out letters to stop birthday cards, Lisa thinks a bad idea.

Chester Road Rat Run continues unabated............

Have decided to put up some more protest signs, smaller more professional, possibly with illumination.

Is changing your light bulbs a waste of time?

I think so.
At the moment China is opening a new power station every six weeks. They plan to build 45 new airports in the next 5 years. The city of Bejing has had more construction in the last 12 months than Continental Europe has constructed in the last 3 years. I have no qualms about saving energy but don't think your low energy light bulbs are going to make the difference.

Another Hero Milton Friedman

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.aip?id=10876

Particle Physics and WWII Bomber collisions

http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=17724

Freeman Dyson a genius!

When Eric Clapton first saw Jimi Hendrix play guitar.

I'd better get off home and do some practice....................................

Village Traffic Protests

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/6603485.stm

Direct Action.

Stock Village.

Sandridge Village.

Cononley Village

Muswell Hill 20 mph.

Redworth Village

A Committee is ...................

A committee is a group of people who individually can do nothing but as a group decide nothing can be done. Humourist Fred Allen.

Welsh Assembly Horse Trading begins

http://blamerbellbriefs.blogspot.com/2007/05/tenei-te-tangata-puhuruhuru.html

Chester Road Penyffordd to get Cats Eye Speed Cameras

Flintshire Speeding Hot Spots - Date 15/05/2007

Flintshire	Speed limit	85th%ile *
Higher Kinnerton	30	38mph
Wepre Lane	30	42mph
Mold Road, Connah’s Quay	30	36mph
Manor Lane, Hawarden	30	37mph
Vounnog Hill/Chester Rd, Penyffordd	30	39mph
A5104 Mold Rd, Broughton	30	36mph
A5026 Holway Rd, Carmel	30	42mph
Gwernaffield Rd, Mold	30	39mph
Cross Tree Lane, Hawarden	30	37mph
St Davids Park, Ewloe	30	38mph
Alltami Road, Buckley	30	38mph
A5105 Bretton Lane, Lower Kinnerton	30	40mph
Ffordd Pennant, Mostyn	30	40mph
Station Road, Talacre	30	40mph
Sandy Lane, Saltney	40	48mph
A5104 Chester Road, Penymynydd	30	40mph
Bryn Road, Buckley	30	39mph
Tre Mostyn	30	40mph
A5026 Glan Aber School, Bagillt	30	36mph
Drury New Rd, Buckley	30	35mph
Rhyddyn Hill, Caergwrle	30	37mph
A5026 Lloc	30	40mph
A5119 Ruthin Rd/New St, Mold	30	35mph
#A5151 Trelawnyd (To be included again)	30	32mph

http://www.arrivealive.org.uk/about/

Chester Rd, Penyffordd, I think now qualifies to be on this list. We have a similar percentile to
Trelawnyd. I travel through Trelawnyd occasionally. Although I have to believe the ArriveAlive data my perception is that Chester Rd Penyffordd gets more speeders. Trelawnyd has a bend in the middle of the village that makes it hard to speed, Chester Rd is foot down starting at the Post Office. As mentioned previously Terrace Lane is perfect place for Arrive Alive and the morning Rat Run.

Penyffordd Bus Routes and Times - Arriva

Click here. A PDF reader is required. Free from here.

Rock Doves

Penyffordd Paradise

Our Garden.

A Council's Approach to Traffic Calming

Kingston Parish Council. Click here.
On their webpages it states,

The KPC have, for a number of years, been concerned about traffic issues through the village. The causes for their concerns have probably come from these 4 areas:

• Increasing volumes of traffic through the village
• Speed of that traffic
• Increasing intolerance of drivers to other road users and to the village environment
• Creeping road widening when resurfacing

Very familiar!

The Lache target speeding motorists.

Lache Community Safety Wardens did a survey using a device I think similar to the one Hugh Jones of ArriveAlive uses. I have a picture of it but won't publish it as a minority would seek to vandalise what is a valuable tool to survey village speeding. The MidWeek Chronicle quotes a Chester City Council spokesperson, " Our Safety Warden will continue to work with the Police to address the speeding".

Lache figures 31-39 mph 37%, 40-49mph 4 .3% , Over 50mph 0.3%

Chester Rd Penyffordd 31-39 mph 56%, Over 40mph 8%

Number of Speeding motorists leaving Penyffordd Village 65%*
Number of Speeding motorists entering Penyffordd Village 60%*

So the Lache Community are concerned with their levels of speeding. Ours speeding levels in Traffic Taliban Country are nearly double.

* figures are accurate, supplied by ArriveAlive.

A future sports facility for Penyffordd Youth?

This youth sports facility is in Llay at the bottom of First Avenue. It seems very good, its a basketball pitch. Lots of children there. The much derided security camera keeps an eye on the village investment.

Notes on the Video

This is an unedited section of one of my webcam videos. It gives an indication of the daily assault on Chester Road , Penyffordd. 2800 vehicles a day, 1,040000 cars a year BEFORE Warren Hall A55 exit and the Warren Hall Development. Is the figure of 2,000,000 cars a year after the above developments a wild figure , I think not.
If Chester Road , Penyffordd was shut for a few days Penymynydd Roundabout would have backups next to the school quite away back towards Broughton.
Our future Prime Minister talks about developing Eco Villages.
I and others want our village environment protected. Compulsory 20 mph outside the Post Office. Flintshire County Council have a duty of care under the Local Government Act 2000 which they are not complying with. These idiots only understand two things, points on licences and the physical inablity of their cars to do more than 30 mph on Chester Road without damage (platforms). The fruits of the meeting at The Institute with Councillors, Flintshire Highways were mere tokenism.

Penyffordd Rat Run May 9th 2007 between 8.30 and 9.00am. BEST RUN ONCE THEN RUN AGAIN FOR THE TRUE SPEED.

The Catseye Speed Camera

Click here

Accurate up to 150 mph. Just the item for Chester Rd Penyffordd to stop speeding. Can we have 2 please, one for each direction. That is unless they are clever enough to get cars both ways.

Traffic Noise Levels

Figure 1: Estimated change in traffic noise level after installing different types of speed control measures for a range of traffic scenarios

Cick Here

Figure 2: Comparing average noise levels for commercial vehicles alongside different profiles

Horizontal deflections

Although the trials referred to in this leaflet only investigated the effects of vertical deflections, the advice given on limiting noise variation along a route will generally be relevant to the situation where a series of horizontal deflections such as chicanes or pinch points are installed.

Rumble Strips for Beginners

Click here.

Trunk Road Noise Nuisance in England

Q) I live close to an existing trunk road/motorway and suffer from the increased traffic noise on a daily basis. What measures can you take to reduce noise nuisance?

A) The Agency has undertaken to resurface over 60% of the Trunk Road network with quieter surfacing over the next ten years as part of the Ten Year Plan. Our strategy for achieving this target includes resurfacing the network progressively with quieter materials whenever there is a need to maintain the structural integrity or skidding performance of the carriageway. The original Ten Year Plan target also included the resurfacing of any remaining concrete trunk roads with quieter materials irrespective of the need for maintenance by the end of March 2011. However, the resurfacing of concrete roads ahead of maintenance need, for noise reasons, is no longer allocated funding. As a result, any remaining concrete roads will now only be resurfaced with quieter materials when the surface requires maintenance.

Q) I understand the Agency has no plans to resurface the trunk road near me in the foreseeable future, but we are suffering from traffic noise which has increased over the years. How does the Agency intend to deal with this problem when the trunk road has not been identified in any maintenance programme?

A) The Agency is committed to addressing the most pressing noise problems at a number of locations on the trunk road network where there is no early prospect of achieving noise reductions through quiet surfacing. These locations were identified in answer to a Parliamentary Question and consequently are referred to as 'Hansard Sites'. A ring-fenced budget of £5 million each year has been set aside to fund a programme of local noise reduction measures called the 'Noise Mitigation Programme'.

Appropriate measures to reduce the effects of noise on adjacent properties have been carried out at many of the worst cases from the 'Hansard Sites' list. There is a forward programme to complete the remainder within the Ten Year Plan.

Click here.

Or Here.

Changes to ArriveAlive rules of engagement.

A rule change to make it easier for ArriveAlive to target speeders in villages.
Here

Impulse buy on Ebay

Have finally mangaged to remove the duck weed blanket that has plagued the pond for the last 3 years. Have developed a system for skimming it off the surface. The duckweed if allowed to take hold kills all plant life below the surface. Now the little crocodiles (newts) can be seen swimming along the surface. Some newts swim around in couples.
Idly searching ebay for aquatic plants I came across a chap selling snails. They were only a couple of pounds so I ordered 3. They arrived in the post today intact.
The seller says they are a bit moody when you take them out the parcel they take half an hour or so to come around.
They are Black Japanese Trapdoor Pond Snails.
They are not hermaphrodites, that means I think that they don't have sex with themselves.
Their young are delivered live. Garden snails in this country lay white eggs.
You can sex the snails by looking at their antennae. Females have longer ones.
This snail is a great asset in keeping algae under control as they groom your plants, planting pots and watergarden walls. They also cruise the pond bottom and consume decaying matter such as leaves and fish food. These are live bearing snails. They only breed a couple of times a year so don't expect them to multiply fast like regular egg laying snails. Full grown snails are around 3" long.
It will be best if they cruise the bottom or the blackbird will have them.
http://www.pondkoi.com/trapdoor_snails.htm

Lorries and Lorries, we have a By-Pass but why? The village is much easier easier and quicker

May require to be played once then replayed

To the Pink Ball

No we are not going to a gay event. About 20 of us from Penyffordd Wine Society are supporting a Cancer Research Charity Dance organised by John and Gynette. One needs to turn up wearing a pink item of clothing.
Lisa has bought me a pink hand made silk dickie bow off Ebay to go with my DJ. Then we have to buy another two for others.
Six of us are sharing a taxi. Joe Le Taxi turns up a bit late but its no problem. The man himself takes us (he's French). He's muttering about unreliable staff. I think he needs some Polish people.

Outside the Springfield Hotel there are a group of males drinking and smoking. They looked a bit downmarket. Inside we meet the organisers. Hotel staff are courteous and friendly. The bar was a bit stretched. Lots of people have made a big effort especially the ladies. Everybody has a drink in the bar which looks over the Dee Estuary. Hotel staff are encouraging us to go into the main room so they can start the food. The mandatory raffle appears. Its for charity so everyone buys a ticket.

Seating is a bit tight, can't get my feet under the table, no wonder! there is a BQ carpenters trestle in the way. Nowhere to put anything on the table. At one stage I was eating lazy style with my fork in one hand and wine glass in the other.
Vegetable soup arrives very acceptable. Then a fair wait. The logistics of running an event for maybe 200 eaters to me is highly unattactive. The Maitre D looks a little stressed.

Main course arrives, plenty of food, chicken stuffed with panchetta, very acceptable.
Lisa and Sue are vegetarians. Hotels and eating houses do poorly in general with veggies. The veggy option is wild mushrooms raviolli. The sauce had a bite. It looked colourful on the plate. Why not include the vegetables all us carnivores had?
Too boring on its own. I gave most my veg to Lisa. Sue had the hotel man over for some earache as Pete had a clean plate.
Cheesecake base needed a hacksaw.
The singer was class. I could not tell him apart from Jamie Cullum. Very good indeed.

The dance floor! It was sticky. Probably some new EU Directive on slippy dance floors. Reminded me of Liverpool pubs with sticky carpets. Toilets are 1st class.

The DJ. Needs to try harder. I have heard his selection 10 million times before. Very lazy. There are lots of good modern dance songs.
The second raffle didnt go down well. 2 quid a ticket. Pissed up punters as cannon fodder. Didnt bother. Who was running that raffle?
The lads who were staying there were let in to this do which was private £23.50 a ticket. Do I want 20 virile males with drink eyeing my wife up and blocking the way to the toilet? No, not really.
A good night , really enjoyed it. The Springfield Hotel requires to up its game.

link sent to Hotel(no it hasn't can't find an email address)

Penyffordd Rat Run Test Video

Have been putting this bit off for a while. Thought I would be getting my hands dirty messing around with html. Google who own Blogger and Youtube have made this very simple indeed.
Webcam set up and ready to roll. Hadn't factored in the rain element. So the webcam is wet, I need to upgrade its IP rating (plastic bag and tape). Brought it in for some hair dryer treatment. There is no hurry. The idiots continue to plough through Penyffordd for now...................

Derren Brown is A Genius

Channel 4
Hypnotist, NLP, Positive Thinking.
Current series very very good.

North Wales Police Helicopter Blog

If you have ever wondered where the North Wales Police Helicopter is going or why its hovering over your house. Here is where you can find out.
http://www.north-wales.police.uk/en/dept/OSDAirOpsHeliLog.asp?DID=39201

Penyffordd Village Newsletter

Linda Vidamour suggested a village newsletter in the Community Council Meeting.
A very good idea. To be discussed next month.
The usual lack of enthusiasm from the deadwood.
Electronic much easier to reach Penyffordd masses and free.
Or better still have dead trees and electronic versions.

Humour

A mobile conversation over heard today. He a salesman type smartly dressed.
"I'm stuck in traffic in Manchester the traffic is terrible. I can't see me getting back in time"
Overheard in The Grosvenor Garden Centre Blue Cafe in Chester.........................................

Daily Traffic Levels for Penyffordd along Chester Road

ArriveAlive who were present at the meeting had
monitored traffic over the previous 5 days.
The average per day is in the region of 2800 vehicles !
Chester Road has become Penyffordd's SECOND By - Pass
20,000 Vehicles a week.
1,040000 vehicles a year
That's over a MILLION
This is BEFORE the new A55 exit at Warren Hall.
Also BEFORE Warren Hall Devolpment.

WAKE UP! PENYFFORDD!

Flintshire County Council have a duty to protect our village environment under the Local Government Act 2000. They are not protecting our village environment.

Colin and Lisa's Penyffordd Traffic Survey

Penyffordd Traffic Survey Wednesday 2nd May between 7.16 and 9.00am
Location Penymynydd Junction with Chester Rd - Conditions Sunny -
Our location was fairly hidden - no fluorescents.
Author CNH at http://penyffordd-district.blogspot.com/
A good proportion were looking out for traffic enforcement we thought.
This survey was done honestly with no intention to exaggerate.
We have both we feel a very good eye for speed.
This may be put to the test in the near future when I test myself
against Hugh from ArriveAlive's radar gun!

Results
Totals for Going Out of the village (Up Chester Rd) for 104 minutes (Wednesday 2nd May between 7.16 and 9.00am)
Perceived over 30 mph = 329 vehicles
Perceived under 30 mph = 93 vehicles
Total going out of village = 422

Humour

Spanish Traffic Lights

I've borrowed this off a site (have email back with his permission), they are the perfect item for speeding motorists in villages. I mentioned these a while ago.
Still feeling depressed at meeting. I'm sure it will wear off

Spanish traffic lights.
I would be pleased to know if there are any examples in the UK of 'Spanish style' traffic lights that are used with speed sensors to slow traffic on the approach to villages that straddle main roads. They work by staying at amber if you do not approach too fast, so you benefit from a smooth trip. If you approach too fast they turn red to stop (and thereby inconvenience) speeding vehicles. Few people risk running a red light and friends and neighbours who visit and live in Spain say they work splendidly - and I have recently been told they are used in Portugal too. Enforcement is also easier - a police officer does not need a radar gun. Merely seeing a vehicle going through a red light is quite sufficient evidence (as would be video taken by any local residents).

Taken off http://www.seered.co.uk/trafficsignal.htm

Best Penyffordd Community Councillors 2007

Linda, Cindy and Edwina.
In no particular order.

Meeting with Highways, Police and Arrivealive

A bit dissapointed and frustrated but progress has been made.
Councillor Bithell in the chair.
Present was Charles Hughes who is in charge of Roads (Engineering) Flintshire CC.
with another member of his team.
Good too see the Top Man there.
Also Linda Vidamour, David Williams.
Hugh Jones of Arrivealive.
Talked to Hugh.
Resident attendance was disappointing as Lisa and I had put a leaflet through every door on Chester Rd.
I can see why I am getting nowhere with the community council
with Mr Bithell in charge.
Had a good talk with Linda who is on the right way of thinking.
I think half the Community Council need to retire quickly.
Since I didnt have my PA present I may not have all what follows right.

1. We are having rumble strips, cheap and effective. (hopefully)
(I've been over some rumble strips today on the way to Broughton if we have the same type they will be merely a token and not do what is required. If they are the same height as those approaching Llanddulas from Abergele on the old road we are talking business, they rattle the car to bits if you go over 30mph. The best option are raised plateau's as they are gentle on the car if they do the correct speed.
2. An extra sign to say its 30 mph
3. A possible zebra crossing at the Post Office
4. A possible pro active sign that flashes.

I know a bit more about how things are done after today.
Further avenues to explore.
Take protest sign down for now.........................
I see the Labour campaign van is still on the go, its 8.43pm.
The blogs are confident about Carl Sargeant.
He has worked the hardest and the smartest.
The Labour Machine is slick.

I say at the top progress has been made but has it?
I construct my letter to Colin Bithell and sit on it.

Flintshire County Council's Community Strategy

What is a Community Strategy? A Strategy is an overall Plan designed to achieve stated aims and objectives, using Action Plans to do this. A Community can mean many things to different people, but usually implies that the people who belong to one have something in common with others who also belong. We all live in geographical communities, whether these are villages, estates, towns or the whole county. Many of us also live in other types of community, such as artistic, sporting or industrial communities, in which we may play an active part or a more quiet role. The Community Strategy is thus the overall plan to develop the kind of place that we want to live in in 2020. Following the Local Government Act 2000, all local authorities in England and Wales have a duty to lead the process of producing a Community Strategy that will promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of their area. In doing this, the local authority must consult and seek the participation of appropriate persons and organisations. The Community Strategy tries to fulfil a number of purposes, namely to: enhance the quality of life of local communities through action to improve their economic, social and environmental well-being; contribute to the achievement of sustainable development; provide a mechanism to debate locally the needs, opportunities and aspirations of local communities and establish priorities; provide a focus for continuous improvement in joint working and resource planning between local authorities, the voluntary and business sectors and other agencies to ensure that they effectively meet community needs and aspirations; help councils develop their corporate priorities; identify how the Welsh Assembly Government’s priorities relate to local priorities and how they can be implemented at local authority level; challenge and test the contribution of services, policies and practices to current and future well being; underpin applications to the National Assembly for Wales and other bodies for funding and support. What does the Flintshire Community Strategy do to achieve this? The Flintshire Community Strategy is a framework to bring in new ways for public services to work with communities in Flintshire. It seeks to help people to take control of their lives, but to provide support services whenever needed. The Strategy applies to the County of Flintshire, but its effects will overlap into neighouring areas, such as Wrexham, Denbighshire, Cheshire and Wirral. It is set over a 16 year period, from 2004 to 2020. The Flintshire Community Strategy needs to include: a long-term vision between 2004 and 2020 of how we want to Flintshire to change over that period; a number of key themes and sub-visions that reflect the needs and priorities of local people; action plans (and other strategies) that have shorter term priorities and achievable aims; clear targets and measures to show whether we are making progress; the means and commitment to achieve these targets; arrangements to monitor and report progress. The Community Strategy is not necessarily about making promises to meet all the wishes of communities, as public sector agencies are often limited either by finance or legislation as to what they can do. It is more about making sure that people are listened to before decisions are taken, and that those who have been consulted have some explanation of the final decisions. For this reason, the Strategy has not tried to set service delivery targets (which will be set by other Strategies), but has tried to look at the way decisions are made.

Councillor Linda Vidamour spotted doing homework.

Linda has been outside the post office with what looked like a council official? Studying the traffic ahead of tomorrow afternoon's meeting. Well done.
Best example of the rat run is first thing 7.30 to 9.00 am. Before the by-pass we had lots of traffic through the village. The by-pass got rid of all that. Traffic has slowly increased to where Penyffordd traffic is now busy with an awfull lot of pass through traffic. The culprits? BAE Systems (I am wrong here its Airbus Ltd) expansion, Broughton Shopping Park, more cars on the road?
Warren Hall Farm Development brings 2 extra elements.
1. The Warren Hall A55 Exit itself will mean more traffic for village. Traffic that would normally use Dobshill and the by-pass will now find it quicker and easier to come through the village.
2 The Warren Farm Development will employ many people who will want to live in rural North Wales who will cut through Penyffordd to and from work.

The Clerk to the Penyffordd Community Council has Traffic Calming in his Road

Because the Penyffordd CC refuses to be in the 21st century (no email address) (Sony Corporation have a similar problem) I decided to walk around with my letter. Low and behold there in his estate (turkey farm) are the exact items I am looking for Chester Road. Raised Plateau's. The angle's look a bit shallow but they are the "required item"
Well Mr Jones (Clerk to the Council) if they are good enough for you they are good enough for Chester Road.