Somerset County Council (SCC) has apologised after officers failed to consult and carry out a risk assessment for changes to a junction in central Taunton. In early 2021, SCC introduced a dedicated left turn filter lane to increase capacity to cars on the Castle Street/Wellington Road junction. This put cyclists going ahead to the Wellington road cycle provision in conflict with left turning traffic.
Initially, SCC ignored representations from individual cyclists and the hazard was in place for nearly a year. When TACC approached them, the problem was resolved.
A Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the original changes were made without consultation and a risk assessment. We feel that this showed a disregard for safety of vulnerable road users.
The full response to the complaint to SCC is below:
Thank you for raising your concerns regarding how the minor traffic signal changes were made to the Castle Street/A38 junction in Taunton. There was no intention to adversely affect cyclists and the changes were reverted once officers were made aware of the implications [Note: this wasn’t the case – Ed.]. In hindsight, risk assessments and consultations should have been undertaken, for which I can only apologise.
As you may be aware, the County Council has recently been doing a lot of work on Active Travel, especially following the Governments launch of its Cycling and Walking Plan for England, through the Gear Change document and also the launch of Design Guidance LTN 1/20 in 2020. We are now therefore more focussed on these issues and the need for a greater emphasis on designing for encouraging safe active travel. Moving forward our teams will assess the impact of any traffic signal design changes, and if these affect vulnerable road users then appropriate processes such as safety audit and consultation will be included, prior to scheme implementation.
I hope the above helps to reassure you, and I also apologise for the delay in getting a reply to you.