Surely Not...?

It seems that a new traffic survey was been set up along Bush Road in Cuxton on the 9th. February. Survey cameras have been mounted opposite the junction with the A229 and also by the Cuxton football club pitch.

Traffic survey cameras at Bush Road (by football pitch and by junction with A228)

Almost needless to say, it is half term this week. There will be no school run traffic to measure. The second data point by the social club is also to the west of the school, the club entrance and the shops where most of the Bush Road traffic goes to and from.  In comparison, much less traffic passes by the football field. Measuring traffic flows past the social club would be totally unrepresentative of those at the residential end of Bush Road.

The proposed new winery at Bush Valley has highlighted all of the problems of traffic through the eastern end of Bush Road, which are concentrated in the stretch of road from the junction with the busy A228 through to where Cuxton primary school is. This is, of course, particularly noticeable at school run time, where a combination of sheer vehicles numbers and the narrow nature of the road (plus a smattering of selfish and inconsiderate parking by the “I can do wot I like” contingent) can make negotiating the eastern part of Bush Road a slow, frustrating and frequently hazardous business.

Bush Road is the main arterial route used to gain access to most of the residential areas in Cuxton village. If you live in the main village and have to drive to and from your house, then you’ll have to use Bush Road. 

Vineyard Farms have always been well aware that any access along Bush Road to their proposed new massive luxury restaurant, wine bar and visitors centre will add more traffic to the already overburdened main access road into Cuxton.

They know that their desire to funnel at least 70,000 tourists a year (and probably many more) plus all of the HGV winery construction and subsequent operational traffic down little Bush Road, past people’s houses, the access to the GP surgery, the shops, the library and the busy, busy school, will worsen what is already a traffic nightmare and will cause huge damage to the quality of life of Cuxton residents.

Right back in 2019 in their early planning exercise, Vineyard Farms knew that Bush Road traffic would most probably be the reason that their planning application would flounder.

So they commissioned a traffic survey, which (lo and behold) gave them answers they liked and furnished them with some favourable data to show Medway’s Planning department that traffic wasn’t an issue in Bush Road. Once the report was published, it became obvious that the data had been collected (by accident or design) from a totally unrepresentative point along Bush Road (by Tomlins Lane), well to the west of the shops and the school where most of the congestion occurs. The survey timing also missed out a lot of the actual school run period.

The poor quality of that survey has been discussed elsewhere.

Despite both Medway Council and Vineyard Farms insisting that there is no real traffic problem in Bush Road as a result of that joke survey, public awareness of the laughable nature of it has become quite high. 

Cuxton Parish Council even commissioned its own survey, which showed west-bound traffic flow into the village to be FOUR TIMES higher at peak times than the “data” gathered by Vineyard Farms’ pet consultants, Meyer Brown.

Parish Council traffic data for Bush Road; 500 cars per hour at peak times!

As it turned out, the first planning meeting told Vineyard Farms to go away and sort out their act, much to the chagrin of both them and Medway’s Planning department, the latter of whom proved themselves at the meeting to be enthusiastic supporters of Lord Foster’s vainglorious Xanadu. 

We know that Medway Council’s planning department are working hand-in-hand with Vineyard Farms. They have even been parroting Vineyard Farms unbelievably self-serving propaganda on the council webpage, saying:

“The proposal would bring significant economic and social benefits both locally and nationally. This would be through the creation of jobs and additional spend in the local area through linked trips and associated tourism as well as providing apprenticeship and educational opportunities.”

“Given the benefits identified above, along with the proposed mitigation measures, the proposed development would result in a sustainable form of development that would outweigh any residual harm and as such planning permission should be granted.”

But somehow, I just can’t believe that Vineyard Farms or Medway Council’s Planning department are behind this latest traffic survey.

After their last debacle, surely they would want to gather data from a time and place that was as representative as possible? Surely they learned their lesson from last time?

Who could possibly want to gather data that almost deliberately seems to want to hugely underestimate traffic along Bush Road, I wonder? 

Why would they want to conduct a survey that (once again) is timed and positioned to miss school run journeys, as well as all of the residential traffic into the village from that comes down from James Road.

Why would they want to disguise the underlying traffic safety risks? What use would that be?

Let’s wait and see…