Residents demand tougher speed limit on West Lothian country road

The current speed limit on the B-road which passes Coxydene and the entrance to Jupiter Artland is 50mph – the same as the neighbouring A71 the main road into Edinburgh.

The last stretch of the road runs straight between two bends, one coming onto a major junction with the A71.

Local resident Sandy Hogg said: “It’s a short straight road onto the main run into Edinburgh from Calderwood and the drivers just hammer along it.”

He added: “The noise from souped-up cars and motorbiks is bad, but there’s as many heavy lorries and construction traffic as well as contractors using the road. It’s a B-road. A country road.”

The road is at its busiest in the mid afternoon, but it’s never really quiet.

The edge of the sprawling Calderwood Core Development Area housing development is barely a mile from Sandy’s home. He has no issue with the new housing though it has spread quickly in the four years since he and his wife bought their home.

Their stretch of the road has no street lights and a bus stop on the bend as you head towards The Camps.

“On a dark night, in the rain you’d take your life in your hands getting off a bus and crossing the road,” said Sandy.

Recognising that eventually there will be potentially be almost 5,000 extra cars, reckoning on at least two cars per household in the area , when the giant estate is completed Sandy accepts that it’s no longer the quiet country road he bought his home on, but he believes it’s time the speed limit was reduced.

“It would at least do something to put up a couple of 30mph signs. I just fear the consequences. There haven’t been any accidents yet, but it is a danger to ease your car out of the driveway with the speed that some vehicles pass.”

Sandy recalled standing on a stepladder to clip the hedge along the front of his garden in the summer and the draught from passing lorries almost pulling the ladder over.

Heavy lorries and vans tear past the house only to hit the brakes as the road curves up to the A71 junction.

Problems are exacerbated by the numbers arriving to find the Jupiter Artland, just along the road. It is poorly signposted and many drive past the road end only to have to double back within a hundred yards, turning into the yard of a business and heading back eastwards.

Sandy has raised the speed issue with the council and police.

Local councillor Damian Doran-Timson said: “This is a classic example of West Lothian Council allowing major housing developments without thought of infrastructure or impact.

“This is now a dangerous stretch of road and as a minimum measure the speed limit needs to be reduced to 30mph with police taking action against those who drive at excessive speed and put others at risk.

“I will be pushing the council to take action and trust the safety of our residents is given the seriousness it deserves.”

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