As you may be aware, following concerns raised with me in March about delays and disruptions residents and commuters were experiencing at the Woolwell and Plessey roundabouts, I contacted the Leader of Plymouth City Council, Cllr Tudor Evans, to share those concerns and seek reassurances that the local authority where listening and responding to you. I have now received a response from Cllr Evans, and you can find that full response in the attached letter.
I know that many constituents were calling upon Plymouth City Council to re-open the right hand lane on the Woolwell roundabout, and I put that to the council. The council maintain that, “traffic modelling carried out prior to the commencement of the works, indicated that with the right turn remaining, queues would extend as far back as Yelverton in the peak periods.”
I specifically asked PCC to look at all options open to them to improve traffic flow particularly at peak times.
In order to address the delays we were experiencing following the traffic management switchover, we took an incremental approach in order that we could fully understand how each improvement to traffic management helped the situation, or that we could be alert and understand if any resulted in a worsening of the situation. I have provided a brief summary timeline below of the measures we have taken:
▪ Friday 28 February 2025 - Increased the crossing wait time for pedestrians to 30 seconds
▪ Tuesday 04 March - Increased the crossing wait time for pedestrians to 45 seconds
▪ Thursday 06 March – Shortened the contractor’s site exit lane on the A386 to give greater vehicle stacking on approach to the crossing
▪ Friday 07 March reduced the northern contractors site access on the A386 to relocate the southbound merge and give double the length of road space for traffic to merge after leaving Belliver (Plessey) Roundabout.
It is the combination of all of the above measures which have helped to improve the traffic flow through the scheme day to day. We are very aware that this section of the network is on a knife edge and it does not take much to tip it over into a network with increased delays and the Project Team therefore continue to monitor how traffic is flowing.
I appreciate that residents remain frustrated with the ongoing disruption, and I have asked the council to keep me regularly updated, particularly when a significant change to the layout is due to be implemented. I have also asked to be kept informed of the programme timeline and any changes.
In the meantime, further information on the scheme is available here:
https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/woolwell-george
https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/woolwell-george-faqs
I recognise your frustration and encourage you to please share your views with me, and I will continue to put those to the council for their response.
