Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead, has called for a debate on the traffic problems facing rural communities and cites the example of Water End.

Water End is a would-be idyllic hamlet built on a cart-track. That cart-track has now become the A4146 – the major route between Hemel Hempstead and Leighton Buzzard.

The houses were built hundreds of years ago – many without foundations.

Mike asked the Leader of the House: “...may I ask for a debate on the rural roads network? That would allow me to raise the subject of Water End, a hamlet in my constituency which is being shaken to bits by the heavy traffic that goes through it. It was designed for horse and cart traffic, but it is now the main road between Hemel Hempstead and Leighton Buzzard. May we have a debate that would allow us to raise local issues of that kind?”

Speaking afterwards, Mike said: “Sooner or later a solution needs to be found for small communities like Water End – and I would suggest the sooner the better. Within living memory these roads have gone from being quiet and peaceful to a steady stream of thundering traffic. The houses were not built with anything like it in mind and quite literally are being shaken to pieces.

“People who lived in these hamlets remember playing tennis in the road as children – that is inconceivable now!”

“We need to address this before these beautiful hamlets are destroyed forever.”

| Hansard [1]