Willenhall residents' plea as ’15 to 20 cars written off’ outside homes
Residents on a dangerous Willenhall road have called on Walsall Council to introduce traffic calming measures after "15 to 20 cars" were damaged.
One individual living on Wellington Place said 15 to 20 cars had been damaged or written off in recent years.
Willenhall South ward member, Councillor Simran Cheema, has launched a petition calling on Walsall Council to introduce speed bumps, a pedestrian crossing and weight restrictions to prevent HGVs from using the road.
Steve Tyler, who has lived on the street for 30 years, said: “One morning a van came off the island and took out about four or five cars, and we had a police car go through one of these walls.”
Neighbour Steve Lee said: “In the five years we’ve been here, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in HGVs, quite often the traffic has to reverse down the street because the lorries can’t get down.
“Sometimes it takes me five minutes to get off the drive. But that’s not the issue, the issue is I’m fearing for someone’s life.”
Another neighbour added: “I’ve had two cars written off here, the chap next door has had two work vehicles written off so he’s lost his earnings, as well as one of his cars written off.
“Since I’ve lived here there’s been 15 to 20 cars that have been damaged or written off. It’s a dangerous road. It’s terrible, we’re ignored.”
Until September 2025, Walsall Council had a school crossing warden stationed on Wellington Place for the nearby Fibbersley Park Academy.
One neighbour said: “It was too dangerous to stand there and try to stop traffic. The stop signs they have, that was knocked out of their hands.”
Emma Smith works at an adult supported living accommodation unit on the street.
She said service users in wheelchairs often have to go out into the road to meet taxis further away as they refuse to stop on Wellington Place.
She said: “We have to rely on public transport and taxis. It’s a nightmare. Sometimes they refuse to pick them up. It does put us off going out but it shouldn’t, because they need to live their life as much as possible.”
When Councillor Cheema enquired about weight restrictions along Wellington Place, the council said any changes to the road network would displace haulage vehicles to other already congested routes in and out of Willenhall.
The officer also said the council’s duty is to ‘keep traffic moving’. The response said: “We should really be looking to introduce parking restrictions to remove the obstruction that the vehicles cause.
“Any proposal to do so wouldn’t be supported and therefore we have a situation where residents retain the ability to park close to their houses albeit in a less-than-ideal circumstance.”
Councillor Cheema said: “I’ve done the petition because I wasn’t satisfied with the responses.
“My frustration is that the council, although they acknowledge there’s a problem, they’ve not been forthcoming to do something about the issue.
“They decided to cut back on the crossing patrol wardens to the detriment of school children and I think to compensate for that loss they need to put the measures in place to make it safe.
“I don’t think residents should have to suffer when there are measures that could be put in place if the council decides to invest some money. We want Walsall Council to act now before there’s an injury or loss of life.”
A spokesperson for Walsall Council said “The council will consider all matters raised in the petition and respond to the lead petitioner in line with the petition process.”
See the petition and sign at https://www.change.org/p/call-for-traffic-restrictions-on-wellington-place-willenhall.
