Following complaints in The Journal Letters pages and a hot topic locally via social media sites, Facebook and Twitter, Paulton Parish Council has this week defended the move to place a Give Way traffic chicane at the top of Phyllis Hill, outside Paulton Hospital. It maintains that local people had been consulted and that B&NES Council has now been called in to look again at the positioning of the chicane, which has been causing long tailbacks at rush hour and causing visibility problems for drivers.

A spokesperson for the Parish Council said this week: "The traffic calming measures in Paulton have been put in place following consultation with residents, which helped to compile the Paulton 2010 Community Plan.

"A public exhibition and consultation was also held in November 2011. Reducing the speed of traffic through the village, along with traffic calming measures, was

considered by those who took part as a high priority to create a safer community.

"There has been discussion about the 20mph speed limit at a Parish Council Highways Meeting which the public were invited to attend. Prior warning and publicity about the proposals have also been in the public domain.

"Bath and North East Somerset Council, in consultation with the Parish Council, decided to implement traffic calming measures and the 20mph speed limit. B&NES is the responsible authority for highways and carried out the safety audits, design and the positioning of traffic calming measures.

"Following the concerns expressed by local residents, Paulton Parish Councillors and the Ward Councillors for Paulton, a site visit by the Highways Department of Bath and North East Somerset Council was arranged on Monday this week.

"The problems that are being experienced due to the location of the chicane were explained to the Project Engineer, this included the queuing of traffic during rush hour, access and egress for the hospital and how the bus stops and pedestrian crossing impact on these problems.

"During the meeting, Paulton Parish Council were advised that a further 'Stage 4' safety audit will be carried out when all the traffic calming measures are in place and have been in operation for a period of time. It is expected that this will be early in January 2015."