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Progress update

3rd March 2021

Bloor Homes and the appointed contractor, ECL Civil Engineering, have recently undertaken work on behalf of the highway authority, Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) under S278 of the Highway Act 1980 at the junction between Harper Lane and Watling Street, Radlett. Following a transport assessment for the local road network associated with the Harperbury Park housing development, the junction had been identified as requiring significant upgrading to cater for existing and anticipated traffic flows.

Signalisation of the junction to regularise vehicle movements and provide a pedestrian link across the railway bridge had been designed in accordance with HCC’s Highway Design Guidance and the detailed junction proposal vetted and approved thereafter by the County. All such works are the subject of Road Safety Audits; the procedures are a systematic process for checking the road safety implications of highway improvements and new road schemes. The sole objective of the Road Safety Audit process is to minimise future road accident occurrence and severity once the scheme has been built and the road comes into use. The Road Safety Audit had been undertaken by an independent third party and signed off by HCC.

The construction of the junction had also been built in accordance with the planning permission granted for the development (planning reference no. 5/19/1590), which following initial highway works in 2019 lead to an interim scheme being agreed and installed which is thereafter due to be monitored for a period of no less than 6 months.

At the request of HCC Highways department on safety grounds the newly formed junction was closed on Friday 26th February to enable a thorough review to be carried-out, following minor incidents that have occurred since opening.

Bloor Homes is working closely with HCC to amend the junction in order to mitigate the safety concerns for pedestrians about the junction that have been observed during the short operating period of the signalised junction. Bloor Homes is aware of the significant inconvenience caused by this re-closure and all efforts are being made to expedite the re-opening of the junction. This may be in a temporary form initially, to allow Harper Lane to re-open in the immediate future.