Rayleigh and Wickford MP, Mark Francois, has reacted strongly to reports of continued traffic disruption, in and around the Rayleigh and Hullbridge area, by calling on Essex County Council to re-open Watery Lane (which runs from Hullbridge, up to the Rettendon Turnpike), as soon as possible.
The road, which for years has been used as a shortcut by people trying to get to Rettendon and head North, has been closed due to building works by Barrett – David Wilson on their new development at Malyons Farm in Hullbridge. The situation has been made worse as the developers have also had a contraflow in place on Lower Road, Hullbridge, whilst they attempt to create a new access onto the site – whilst at the same time, Countryside Properties have also had a contraflow in place on Rawreth Lane, whilst they work on their own parallel development there.
The cumulative effect of the closure of Watery Lane and these two contraflows has been to create severe traffic congestion in that area of Mark’s constituency, particularly during the morning and evening rush hour but also at other times as well. As well as encouraging the County Council to re-open Watery Lane as soon as possible to relieve the pressure on this situation, Mark has also called on all the developers to complete their access works as quickly as possible and therefore remove the need for the contraflows in the first place.
Speaking about the situation, Mark Francois MP said:
“I have spoken personally to County Councillor Kevin Bentley, Deputy Leader for Essex County Council and Cabinet Member for Infrastructure (including the road network) to urge him to re-open Watery Lane as soon as practically possible. In fairness, he quickly understood the point and said he would do what he could. In addition, as he oversees the road network in Essex, I have also asked him to try and ensure that we do not face a situation like this again where, as it were, all the busses come at once, in terms of road closures and multiple contraflows all at the same time. This has been causing considerable inconvenience to my constituents and I would like to see the situation rectified with a sense of urgency, as soon as practically possible.”
