'Speed pimple' in Cornwall made into speed bump
That's after criticism of its size
West Cornwall’s ‘speed pimple’ has finally become a speed hump despite local councillors being told there was no money left to finish it. Following the publication of our story last week and the work of a local councillor to get the much-needed traffic-calming measure completed, extra tarmac has now been added.
The case of the ‘Heamoor speed pimple’ on the outskirts of Penzance was raised at a meeting of Madron Parish Council by its chairman, Cllr Hugh Eddy. The flat table speed bump had been built at Heamoor Crossroads but, as he put it, it was “basically useless”.
He said: “Unlike bumps located at Clarence Street or the promenade, which have a ‘bite’, this one is merely more like a slightly raised manhole.” Cllr Eddy said that he was told by the area’s Cornwall councillor, Juliet Line, that since the job started, the topping material on it had gone up by 400 per cent in value, meaning that the costs of finishing the scheme could not be covered by the allocated funding.
“Therefore the ‘hump’ is to be left as it is, with the asphalt base but no top coat,” added Cllr Eddy last week. “I couldn’t really believe what I was hearing. It’s like building a house then not bothering with the roof tiles ‘because I can’t afford them’.
“Ratepayers’ money has been tied up in this scheme, which myself and many around Heamoor had high hopes for in slowing down the traffic on Madron Hill. Ultimately the money is wasted, because the scheme doesn’t slow traffic. Cornwall Council could have used the money to fill potholes elsewhere until they sorted the budget to actually finish this scheme.”
Mayor of Penzance Stephen Reynolds, who represents Heamoor said it was “frustrating that due to ‘unexpected’ increases in the cost of materials, we have been left with a ‘speed pimple’ that barely slows traffic down. There are serious questions to be answered about the flawed budgeting and procurement processes at Cormac that resulted in a much-needed (and straightforward) scheme going so badly wrong”.
However, there is now good news for residents of the area. Cllr Juliet Line, Liberal Democrat councillor for Ludgvan, Madron, Gulval and Heamoor at Cornwall Council, has been pushing for the work to be completed and her tenacity has paid off.
She took to social media yesterday (Tuesday, September 16) to tell her constituents that Cormac had been out the previous night and added some extra tarmac to give the new tabletop “some more oomph”. The councillor posted a video of a test drive over the completed hump and said Cormac – the council’s arms length highways company – had “nailed it”.
She said: “Thanks very much to portfolio holder for transport Cllr Dan Rogerson for helping me get such swift action on this and to local residents who emailed me.”
Cllr Line told us: “I asked Dan Rogerson to get onto Highways as soon as it became apparent that the previous job wasn’t up to scratch and he pursued it straight away as he could also see it wasn’t right.”
Cllr Rogerson said: “Local Lib Dem councillors have been campaigning for action at this junction for years. It has been the site of a number of accidents, including one serious one in 2022. We had to make sure it served its intended purpose, which was to slow the traffic at the junction.”