Welcome

The Wavendon road safety group is a group of Wavendon residents (from the length of Walton Road, plus other village roads/areas) who have come together to press the authorities to implement appropriate safety measures in Wavendon Village.

We became concerned about safety on Walton Road in particular several years ago and raised concerns with the local authority - Milton Keynes City Council, Wavendon Parish Council and the Ward Councillors.

Since then, things have moved on steadily, albeit slowly. MKCC Highways Dept. has held a couple of open meetings with the 'village' and is intending to conduct a formal consultation on possible measures to improve safety (please see 'latest news' opposite).

We originally thought this would occur around the end of 2024 - but here we are past the middle of 2025 with no concrete plan yet. When it does happen we will help to publicise this event, try to provide some assessment and of course, encourage villagers to respond to it whatever their viewpoint. Again - please see 'latest news'.

This page will be used by the group to make information available to villagers. Check back frequently for updates on it.

[updated June 2025]

June 2025: Latest analysis of  traffic data shows that the morning  school day peak time traffic through the double-bend is in the region of the 400 vehicles mark. This correlates with the increase we have seen this year at our roadside counts. This is what pedestrians and cyclists have to contend with. We have run out of patience waiting for MKCC, so we are compiling a PETITION of signatures from local residents. It asks that the council promptly hold the CONSULTATION that they promised the village OVER A YEAR AGO. Please look out for someone tapping on your door inviting you to sign the petition. The petition is not asking for any particular measure - just that they hold the broad consultation as promised. There has been a DELAY in implementing the INTERIM MEASURE for the double-bend, apparently some components are not available and MKCC is talking to other potential providers. We do not expect any action on this for several months.

April 2025: We have had a long wait for MKCC Highways dept to release the 'informal' consultation. Back in February the Council said that they had a two-part plan (1) implement an interim measure on the double-bend within four weeks and (2) initiate the consultation within two months. However not much has been heard since then! The 'interim measure' will be an electronic system of sensors and signage on the approaches to the double bend to alert drivers and pedestrians to cars or people in the road. The residents on the bend obtained the plans for this, assessed it and gave feedback to the council (plus Ward councillors and WPC), and further clarifications were made by Highways. However we do not know how the success of this scheme will be monitored and assessed. There is no further news on the matter of the full consultation. We also understand that the Council is still waiting to see if it will be granted the appropriate powers to be able to control traffic through ANPR means. Having pressed the council further, we are imminently expecting (late April) the MKCC 'cabinet member' for road safety to visit the site - although this will not be at peak time, so the fact remains that no-one is actual high authority has bothered to witness conditions during peak period.

Walton Road in Wavendon is a simple village road constructed long before the area was a great centre of population. It is narrow and has a notorious blind double-bend and of course such a road layout would never be designed or built in modern times. Over the past few years the explosion of new housing surrounding Wavendon, the increase in general east-west traffic and occasional problems on the main roads and major roundabouts have added to the pressure on Walton Road. With more housing still being built and planned for the area far into the future, the pressure of over-use will just grow and grow. At the same time increasing numbers of pedestrians, leisure walkers, cyclists and schoolchildren are using Walton Road - a trend that is to be encouraged and which is of course wholly compatible with general life in the rest of Milton Keynes (redways, leisure paths etc). However, the safety of these people is threatened on a daily basis by the increasing number (and behaviour) of cars, delivery vehicles and trucks. The pinch-point of all of this is of course the blind double-bend at the west end of Walton Road - a bend so notorious that major company John Lewis recently filmed a driver training video on it! Because Milton Keynes is so well structured and planned, it is well-known where and when major developments such as housing will take place and 3,000 houses are likely to appear 'east of Wavendon' as part of the Council's expansion plan. This means the increase in pressure on Walton Road can be clearly foreseen and there is absolutely no reason why it cannot be strategically dealt with now.

Many road users such as cyclists, pedestrians, parents walking children to school and nursery have told us about their experiences with near misses or unsafe or inconsiderate or even dangerous behaviour from car and truck drivers (e-scooters too!) on Walton Road and especially the blind double-bend. In fact we have kept a log over the last year or so and shared this with the Council. Here are just a few of the comments.

What's the problem? - A good question .... and simply answered - Walton Road has become unsafe and this basically boils down to too much motor traffic and the fact that the majority of drivers ignore the speed restrictions. There is no footpath on the already narrow blind double bend and drivers do not give enough regard to pedestrians and cyclists. Over the last decades Walton Road in Wavendon has come to be used more and more as a cut-through, motor traffic has greatly increased as has its use by pedestrians, leisure walkers, cyclists and school children. Walton Road was never constructed to take ever increasing volumes of traffic, it is a simple small village road - with a notorious blind double-bend, and does not offer an adequately safe route for cyclists and walkers.

In the past few years the volume of motor traffic, it's changing nature such as more delivery trucks, more SUVs, and even the worsening behaviour and attitudes of many drivers is simply squeezing out road users on foot and on bicycle (etc). This applies all along Walton Road - it is why concerned village residents (backed by the parish council and police) now run a community speedwatch - but its nexus is at the notorious blind double-bend with no footpath and barely wide enough for two lane traffic. The Highways team acknowledge it's simply the worst length of road of its type in Milton Keynes.

All this adds up to a daily very unpleasant and unsafe experience for walkers and cyclists. No parent would let their young child walk around that corner by themselves and many schoolchildren simply run around it to get past quickly. The traffic, associated noise, fumes and vibration also make the immediate area less pleasant for village residents. It is our view that as more people move into the area there will be more of everything on the road - cycles, pedestrians, leisure and dog walkers, cars, delivery vans and trucks.

Here you will see some of the serious safety concerns we have.

Over the last few years the motor traffic has greatly increased as has its use by pedestrians, leisure walkers, cyclists and school children.

Following the residents meeting in June 2024, Highways issued an updated 'options' document. It was substantially the same as at the meeting, but included a bit more info. The challenge is introduced and six potential options are given. These are assessed against their ability to be delivered and the impact they would make of the recognised problems.

We have shown the most key information here.

These are options FROM THE COUNCIL with their colour coded (RAG) assessment of likely effectiveness.

The options include traffic light, speed bumps, chicanes, camera controlled road closure, one-way and full closure.

We expect that this may form the majority or core of the first informal consultation in the autumn - i.e. they will be inviting opinions from residents and the wider community.

Of course any of the options offered may change - for example the position on ANPR driven 'open road closure' may radically change if the council is granted the appropriate powers.

We have assessed the options from the Council to drive-out the pros and cons. Here are our key points. Of course, the details of any of these options may change by the time the consultation is issued - for example the ANPR driven 'open road closure' and we will do our best to assess and inform here.

Of course, this is our assessment, but is the result of discussion by a group of people with knowledge of the problem and the locale, and striving to be objective.

You can write to the council and ward councillors now to express your opinion. We expect that these options will be the basis of the next stage - the 'informal' consultation when the Council seeks residents views.

Look out for the informal consultation from MK Council  - and if you have an opinion please make it. We expected this stage to be around mid 2025 but there is no sign of it happening yet. Which is why we will be asking MKCC to make it a priority. As a first step MKCC intend to deploy an 'interim safety measure' on the double-bend, although we look forward to this, we believe it will have serious shortcomings and not really deliver safety, this was due to occur in May '25 - but again it has been delayed and we do not expect it before the autumn. You can also get in touch with us - the road safety group via this contact email opposite.

We welcome hearing from you about your experiences on Walton Road. We keep a log of road safety incidents. Please contact us through myra@myrahutton.co.uk

Here is the QR code for this website http://wavendon-rsg.uk please share it!