Parking

There are 27 properties within the village which have no off-street parking (highlighted in red on the map).  All have safe areas of street parking (highlighted in blue on the map) directly in front of their properties. We are a popular village for visitors. They come to visit the shop and the pub and enjoy the walk to Bibury. Visitors tend to park as close to their intended destination as possible. This leads to congestion around the shop, parking outside houses which don’t have their own off-street parking and parking in areas which are dangerous or restrict road movements.

Possible solutions

Cost

Source

A

New signage and road markings (H-marks or hatchings) throughout the village to indicate the areas which are safe and suitable for visitors to park.    
(Gloucestershire highways has allocated money in 22/23 for H-marks at private accesses on Main St to create some sections where vehicles will be able to pull in and let opposing traffic pass and a long H-mark to dissuade parking on the bend outside Waterside. They have also allocated money for improving the existing warning signs and road marking on the approach to Coln Mill from the Quenington side)                                                  

£1150

Gloucestershire
Highways

B

Create a village map, indicating where we would like visitors to park. Advertise this with display boards at the shop and near the entrance to the Bibury loop. Work with the pub on educating their guests. Leaflet campaign targeting those parking outside the suggested area.

Approx
£1000

Coln
Parish
Council

C

Create a car park from a section of field on the outskirts of the village and direct all visitors to use it rather than parking on the village streets. (If a suitable area could be found this would involve buying the land and seeking planning permission from CDC)

£100k+

Coln Parish Council / village fund raising

D

Re-position the Coln St Aldwyns sign towards the existing 30 sign in the middle of the straight. Create new planters around it with the intention of visually breaking up the road and encouraging parking on the Quenington side only.

£2750

Mixed:
Gloucestershire
Highways and Coln Parish

Speeding / Congestion

A group of volunteers conducted speed watch patrols in the known “hot spots” for speeding: along the straight by the river and on the road towards Hatherop. During the 7 sessions, 30 cars were caught speeding out of a total of 1235. While this is not a huge percentage it is unlikely to reflect the true picture, as the sheer presence of the speed watch has an immediate impact to reduce speeding. The village also has issues with heavy goods vehicles causing damage to cars and property on Main Street and congestion on Main Street, mainly caused by inappropriate parking which reduces the availability of passing places.  

Possible solutions

Cost

Source

E

Apply to reduce the speed limit within the boundaries of the village to 20 mph – GCC will be consulting on this as a policy this summer including the conditions and criteria which will be used to determine applications.

£15k
(reduced if combined with Q & H villages)

Mixed:
Parish Council, possibly county council too.

F

Create an “autospeed watch” area incorporating the three villages of Coln, Quenington and Hatherop. Install cameras at all entry points which record the number plate details of speeding offenders and operate a system of escalating police letters/visits/further action for offenders – GCC currently working with the police to finalise the policy on this and are running trials.

Approx £5000
(split between the three villages)

Mixed:
Parish Council, possibly county council too.

G

Wholescale transformation of the area around the shop including raised sections of road, re-profiling of curbs, alternative traffic flow. – This is a suggestion put forward by a villager with experience of Highways issues. If chosen we would work with Gloucestershire Highways to narrow down the options and get a tighter cost estimate.

£100k+

Mixed:
Parish Council, Village fundraising, Gloucestershire Highways

H

Create priority give way buildouts on the straight to reduce speed in this hot spot.

£30k

Mixed:
Parish Council, Village fundraising, Gloucestershire Highways

I

Construct village “gates” on the entrance into the village from Bibury to encourage a reduction of speed as cars enter the village.

£1250

Mixed:
Parish council,
Gloucestershire
Highways

J

Put up a sign on the wall outside Walnut Tree cottage (if owners agree) asking for it to be kept clear as a passing place.

£100

Coln parish
council

K

Continue with regular speed watch sessions, manned by a rota of volunteers.

£0

HGVs

Gloucestershire County Council are looking across the county at the issue of HGV’s using unsuitable roads. While we wait for this work to be concluded please continue to report to the police any damage caused to cars or walls by HGVs so that we can build an accurate picture of the problem.

Electric vehicle charging

As we have over 20 houses which have no off-street parking it has been suggested that we should look to install a minimum of two community electric charging stations. Priority usage would go to residents with visitors able to use them if there is spare capacity. CDC have been contacted and have said, that while they are intending to develop a policy for this, their priority is to introduce electric charging in all car parks. They have no given any indication as to their timescales. If there is consensus that this is a good idea for the village, we need to decide if we wish to wait for CDC to act or forge ahead without them.