Positive Ashwells Road meeting looks to the future

Following the tragic events of Sunday 16th January resulting in the death of a rider and two horses in Ashwells Road, a public meeting was held on Thursday 27th January at Ashwells Country club hosted by Cllrs Barry Aspinell, David Kendall and Vicky Davies to discuss issues of highway safety. The meeting was packed with local residents and those who also use the area to ride, cycle, drive and walk.

The meeting commenced with those present spending a moment in quiet reflection over the recent loss of life.

The aim of the meeting was not to apportion blame but to look forward as to what measures are needed to help prevent such a dreadful accident occurring again and generally make the area safer. Residents put forward a wide variety of ideas and suggestions, all of which had great merit. These ranged from the introduction of speed checks on a regular basis, reinstatement of highway verges, width restrictions, making all bridleways fully accessible and the introduction of new areas for horse riding so the busier roads can be avoided.

The local school has presented long term parking problems for the staff, parents and local residents and if alternative parking areas can be identified and work funded then the need for off street parking is critical.

Cllr Vicky Davies said:

"All the information from the meeting will be collated and raised with County Council highway officers responsible for Brentwood's roads. This, we sincerely hope, will start the ball rolling to getting some action taken making our area a safer place for us all."

"We would like to say a big thank you to Ashwells Country Club who very generously gave the use of their premises freely which enabled us to organise the meeting quickly.

"Thank you also to all of you who gave up your precious time to attend and contribute your views. We hope to achieve a lot of positive outcomes from this meeting and will keep you all fully informed as we move forward."