The Parish Council submitted the following consultation response...

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the overall proposals for the North Thanet Link?

Strongly Agree.

We would like to emphasise the importance of the North Thanet Link Road, due to the extensive building of commercial and residential estates within Thanet over several years, with no new access roads. There are only two routes in and out of Thanet, A28 or A299/A256, which are both congested. Any driver wishing to access the Maple Leaf construction from north of Westwood will use Shottendane Road, Margate Hill and through Acol, on our narrow cart track (in most places not wide enough for a central white line) that has four blind-bends and no pavements or footpaths and zero escape areas for pedestrians. Traffic monitoring was conducted in the summer of 2018, when over 80,000 vehicular movements were recorded in one week, many of which were construction traffic and ninety such vehicles were counted in one day by a resident. Following the monitoring, traffic calming measures were installed, which had previously been rejected by villagers due to the noise they cause and vehicle parts being deposited upon the road, which is in fact our current situation. HGVs do not reduce speed when confronted by humps and crash over them, shaking the properties near the road. Residents have been woken at 4 a.m. and the intrusion continues throughout the day and into the night, often up to 1 a.m. A 7.5 tonne weight limit through Acol was recently imposed. However, that has done little to deter heavy vehicles, and the Police do not have time to prioritise or act upon reported infringements. We recognise that the plan will involve closing the end of Margate Hill to traffic, which is a step in the right direction. However, a further consideration needs to be Crispe road, which is a single track with passing places; those places being upon an unstable bank and several vehicles have tipped into the field. North Thanet is at gridlock during the summer months and Crispe road is used as a short cut for traffic wishing to bypass traffic jams. This results in the road being congested and those who live on Crispe Road are not able to leave the or return to their homes during these times as access to the road is impossible. Our concern is that the New Link road will exacerbate this as Acol will still be seen as easy cut through. Thought needs to be made to other ways of deterring traffic away from Acol and closing Margate Hill and Crispe Road to all but those who live in the road and farmers will solve the congestion in the village and allow the New Link road to be used to its full potential.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with Option 1 Signal Junction on the A28?

Tend to disagree...

We are concerned that traffic signals may impede traffic flows leading to tailbacks and the possibility of drivers seeking other routes/ rat-runs.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with Option 2 Roundabout Junction on the A28?

Strongly agree...

We feel that this should facilitate better traffic flow and prove more flexible as development occurs in the area.

Which of the following additional highway measures (that are not included within the current scheme proposals) would you support within Acol village?

Reducing speed limit on selected roads.
Full closure of Crispe Road to motorised vehicles.
Other (please specify) - Chicanes and/ or traffic light access to the village. We feel that one way traffic on Crispe Road may tempt higher speeds. A 20 mph speed limit for the village already has support. Traffic calming has not reduced traffic flow or much reduced speed, but created additional noise nuisance.

If you have any other comments on the proposed North Thanet Link scheme, including any suggestions for improvements to the design of the A28 Canterbury Road junction or the wider scheme, please tell us in the box below.

We fully support the provision of cycling and walking infrastructure but would like to be assured of commensurate reasonable speed limits. Current speed limits across Thanet seems to follow little rhyme or reason, with single track roads with very limited visibility rated at the national speed limit, while some multi-lane dual carriageways with existing cycling and walking provision have lower limits. We do not think a speed limit higher than 40 mph is likely to be warranted on any part of The North Thanet Link Road.