Dungeon Lane Closure

[Deleted]

After reading the notice and posting it on the forum I decided today to visit the Town Hall with intentions of looking at a map showing the closure , all the town hall had was a piece of A4 showing the shaded off road.

    I met up with a couple from Baileys Lane in Hale who were also concerned about the closure and the security of the lane and up to yet this is what has transpired .

    Dungeon Lane will be closed from the entrance to the GA down to the junction with Baileys Lane .

    When asked about security the answer was " We will see how things go" in other words no camera or barrier (fly tipping will still continue)

    The mound will be levelled off and the corner widened for lorries turning down so no more mound.

    A bridle way will be made at the back off the houses to enable people to walk down to Oglet  Lane

    Baileys Lane will remain the same and not widened

    

    Anyone who is interested about the plans can attend a meeting at the Wellington Pub on Tuesday 20th October at 7pm   

[andyh]

The plans have already been through the formal planning process and the objections from residents of Bailey's Lane were not considered sufficient to prevent planning approval being granted. The road closure process is very different now to how it used to be so there is not much point people continuing to protest. This work is important from both a safety and security point of view and needs doing as soon as possible, in my opinion.

[davecalveley]

So that will mean any vehicular access to the Oglet and control tower area will have to enter Baileys lane from Hale??

[viscount]

Yes, as was once possible before the barrier closure of a section of Baileys Lane. This would presumably require lifting of the previous road closure notice on this section of road.

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There are various road names for the roads at the 27 end towards Hale which confuses some.

Dungeon Lane is the shortest, from Hale Road, past the entrance to Viscount Drive and the GA compex, past the runway threshold then the mound, but ends at the right bend, which is where the new path link to the Mersey Way commences. It continues renamed as Oglet Lane.

Oglet Lane takes over from Dungeon Lane at the bend beyond the spotter's mound and continues on until eventually terminating at the boundary fence just beyond the control tower.

Bailey's lane is the road off Hale Road (not far off opposite the garage). At the Hale Road end, initially Bailey's Lane has houses on both sides, with the final access being to the horse fields before a barrier that currently closes a section leading to a further closure barrier at the junction with Dungeon Lane, which is where Bailey's Lane ends, beside the start of the 4x4 section of the mound.

Ashton's Lane is an unpaved 'green road', today in reality an overgrown hedged footpath between Hale Road and Bailey's Lane parallel to Dungeon Lane across the large field.

[Deleted]

Oct 15, 2015 16:54:08 GMT 1 andyh said:

The plans have already been through the formal planning process and the objections from residents of Bailey's Lane were not considered sufficient to prevent planning approval being granted. The road closure process is very different now to how it used to be so there is not much point people continuing to protest. This work is important from both a safety and security point of view and needs doing as soon as possible, in my opinion.

Were do you get the idea the work is important regarding security and safety. I have put in my thread that the attitude of Halton Council as regards  Security  is "We will wait and see what happens" , as usual Halton Council will not commit themselves  so the fly tipping will continue and so will the bikers. The traffic down Baileys Lane will increase with lorries and the farmers tractors . I don't think a barrier system would work . I honestly think this should be sorted before any decision is made ,someone suggested an ANPR camera but again what about lorries doing deliveries to the tower. I surmise there are going to be a lot of arguments before something is finally settled.      

[viscount]

As initial plans several years ago had a key code security barrier on Bailey's lane roughly where the barrier at the horses fields is currently. What plans the Airport have to stop, limit or encourage traffic into and along Oglet Lane are unknown to me at present.

Quite why it is felt that fly-tipping will increase I'm unsure. Even with no access barrier, any vans will have now to pass the houses of Bailey's Lane with the possibility that a resident is noting numbers - not the case at present.

True the traffic along Bailey's Lane will increase, but probably only back to pre-road closure levels as the tractors and much of the ATC traffic came from the Hale direction then, not past the GA gate direction.

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The Dungeon Lane closure is very much all about safety reasons (but not health and safety) in a secure area. Since the BAW Boeing 777 incident when it landed short at Heathrow the CAA have required airports with greater than a threshold passenger figure to establish a secure and 'sterile' (ie no structures, trees, cars, people) area known as a Runway End Safety Area or 'RESA'. If at Liverpool the '777 would have landed in the field behind the 'spotter mound' on the river side of Bailey's Lane. On the plans we saw 3-4 years ago, Bailey's lane runs inside the edge of the then proposed RESA, but as there is no short term alternative it may have dispensation. Dungeon Lane runs right through the RESA though. There has for many years been a tale in circulation (unconfirmed officially) that there is a possibility that traffic on Dungeon Lane during Cat III Autoland could disrupt the beam at a critical moment - therefore the traffic lights across the 27 threshold on Dungeon Lane, in recent times largely ignored, vandalised and now removed. The low wood stake fence across the actual runway end is a compromise between security and safety (wood will splinter on contact not tear open an aircraft as metal posts would (the landing light posts are hinged, designed to collapse on pressure). At the 09 end the fence is also wood, not metal - but little visited as access is no so open.

I would be very interested in maps of the current RESA proposals, gates, barriers, security fencing etc. I know that the original proposals have been modified since published years ago.

[andyh]

I'm only concerned with safety and security in terms of the airport and its operations. The Runway End Safety Area is not compliant with current safety standards and there is a four foot high wooden fence demarking the airfield boundary at the 27 end which is a potential security issue; the proposed work is the only way to resolve this - unless you would rather the runway was shortened to allow the 2.8m high fencing needed to follow the current boundary?

I also don't see Why fly tipping would increase by closing off a road with absolutely no overlooking and making traffic go down a road with houses along it? If anything it should deter fly tippers as they will think twice because there is a good chance their vehicles will be observed by local residents.

Bailey's Lane is a public highway and was open to general traffic until a few years ago. I don't see why it should get special treatment?