4.3 Market Street/Glossop Road./ Relief Rd Area 3.

From the mid point on Market Street pedestrian facilities are much improved, with adequate pavement on both sides of the street. The stone paved area would continue to the entrance to Mill Street on the west side of Market Street, and thence revert to traditional pavement.

The main suggestion concerning Market Street and Glossop Road, not without controversy, has been that of opening the connection to the relief road to two-way traffic. Shortly after the inauguration of the relief road in 1979, exiting from Glossop road onto the A624 was deemed too dangerous, and the Glossop road/A624 junction has been for traffic into the village only.

From a Highways point of view this is perhaps a reasonable safety measure. However, the net effect is to increase dramatically the traffic on Market Street and Church Street in particular, since the only exit from the village is at the southern junction between the top of Church Street and the relief road. All traffic coming into the village is required to turn at the top of Market Street (or wherever it can) and come back though the village.

The drawings for Area 3 then show how the junction with Glossop road might look were there to be exit as well as entry for village traffic. The immediate problem this creates, is that the current parking situation on Glossop Road would make two-way traffic rather hazardous. Not only that, but an exit onto the A624 is deemed by the Highway Authorities to be too dangerous under current conditions.

To achieve an entry and exit solution for Glossop Road, there would need to be some traffic controlling mechanism on the A624 at the junction, and re-location of some of the parked cars from the road itself. This may be feasible in the long term, and further serious study and costing needs to be done outside the scope of this Village Plan. It can be seen however than the drawings as presented show an increase in parking spaces to nine, offering some alleviation of the parking problem.

A solution proposed by many residents during the consultation was for Glossop Road to be a one-way system, with no entry from the junction with Swallow House Lane. If Market Street were to be two-way, and then Church Street one way from the bridge to the junction with Highgate Road/Valley Road, preventing cars from descending the road, then the 'double bind' of cars having to use village streets twice would be removed. This would still require the junction with Glossop Road/A624 to be made safe for north-bound traffic turning right into Glossop Road, but a simpler and perhaps more elegant solution.

Market Street, with its access to Fairy Bank Road, Swallow House Lane and Kinder Road is sufficiently wide to allow two-way movement. Similarly the Top of the Town would be two way to the junction with Fishers Bridge, allowing ease of access to Valley Road and Highgate Road.
These solutions require some further serious study, and are mainly issues of traffic control rather than physical amenity to the built environment.

PLAN

Action:
Hayfield Village Action Group
Hayfield Parish Council
Funding:
Traffic Feasibility Study