Update on traffic

We’ve held our first meeting on local traffic issues on Feb 22nd, with Trevor and Oliver from the London Cycling Campaign in Hackney, Louisa Thomson, ward councillor, and Robert Lindsay, Bayston Road resident, who has been campaigning against the gyratory in the past.

The aim was to gather information on what has been going on up until now and to start (re-)formulating a view point. Please also read the notes which are posted on this blog. We generally feel that much could be gained by the removal of the gyratory, as well as other interim measures to calm traffic locally and would now like to take things to the next level and discuss the points in a larger forum in order to revive the campaign. We’ll post date and time and location here soon.

Meeting date:
22nd February 2010
Report date:
26th February 2010

Notes from LARA Traffic Meeting
Regarding Stoke Newington gyratory

1 Purpose of meeting
To learn about the history of the campaign against the gyratory; objectives:
- Improve accessibility for all users of the public realm
Robert Lindsay has previously campaigned against the gyratory under the name of SNOWS (scrap Stoke Newington One Way System);
Robert started when Ken Livingstone was Mayor of London. He gave an overview of his work to date. Robert is moving out of the area in the near future and would like to see the campaign continued. LARA is picking up from here.
- Wide range of support for the cause from residents, local businesses; huge hidden support for the gyratory to be discontinued;
- Different interest groups and strands which need to be brought together, including: LCC, LARA, Cazenove Area Action Group (CAAG), Stoke Newington Business Association; Stoke Newington Common Users Group;
- Another local residents group that has already publicly expressed support for scrapping the system is Cazenove Area Action Group – LARA check their website. Robert noted that Amy Erikson is one of the driving forces behind that as well as the Stoke Newington Common Users group.
- Opinions need to be sought from other groups such as NARG;
- LARA to help pull all together into unified campaign.
Robert also added the following post‐ meeting note:
“We didn't discuss this at the meeting but the most radical option, in terms of traffic reduction/calming would be to grass over Rectory Road where it runs over the common, forcing cars to use the High Street. There is a common myth that if you cut road capacity, eg by closing or narrowing a road or making it two way, the remaining roads (in this case the High Street) will become more congested. In fact evidence and experience shows that if you cut road capacity, the number of people using that particular route fall because they decide to leave their cars at home. One traffic engineer told me he expected huge tail backs when Shoreditch went two‐way ‐ in fact it never happened.”

2 Why are we campaigning for the return of the gyratory to two‐way operation?
- Slower and more regulated motor traffic flow around the area
- Better pedestrian connections
- Better access to and therefore possibly greater prosperity for local businesses
- Improved accessibility
- Less pollution and noise
- A better public realm
- To enable more local journeys to be taken on foot or by bike
- Better permeability for cyclists (‘maximum route choice, minimum diversion’)
- Less rat‐running
We fully recognise that the A10 is a major artery into and out of London and we accept that this cannot be changed. Our aim is to lessen the impact of heavy traffic and unnecessary speeding through what is essentially a residential area and to improve pedestrian and cyclists’ connection between the LARA area and its surroundings, which include schools, shopping facilities, public transport, greenspaces and other amenities.

3
3.1
LCC / Councillor Louisa Thomson’s Positions
Trevor and Oliver from the London Cycling Campaign in Hackney gave a detailed overview on the issues to do with the gyratory and how these tie with wider traffic policy issues and aims, streetscape issues, etc.
They have been campaigning for the removal of this gyratory and others (Shoreditch, Tottenham Hale) for over 10 years and the LCC in Hackney is among local organisations to be credited with the successful return of the Shoreditch High Street gyratory to two‐way operation;
There are literally dozens of options, and it’s not useful to drill down to the fine detail just yet. Options need to be discussed and agreed with all stakeholders to reflect or address interests and promote agreement, all in due course when the prospect of change becomes clearer.
LCC’s own current position is to reinstate 2‐way traffic for all road users on Stoke Newington High Street, Rectory Road, Manse Road, Northwold Road, Evering Road, and Brooke Road. Their view is that 2‐way traffic is preferable to contraflow cycling lanes, being much more effective at achieving slowed down and more even traffic flow; they advised that experience has proven that contraflow cycling lanes are a second‐best option to returning the streetscape to its original appearance, causing problems especially at junctions.
In summary, some of the benefits of reintroducing 2‐way traffic to the area could be:
- More continuous traffic flow generally
- No more speeding cars along the High Street, Rectory Road, Manse Road and Evering Road in particular
- Less rat‐running;
- Reduction of density of traffic on the High Street at peak times;
- More local journeys undertaken on foot or by bike—the current picture is heavily distorted and not ‘normal’;
- Vastly improved access to public transport, mainly bus services, for local residents;
- Making for a more pleasant and less dangerous environment for pedestrians
- Increased retail activity as a consequence;
In tandem with the removal of the gyratory, local traffic calming measures (complementary measures) must be looked at, including
- 20mph speed limit throughout
- ‘filtered permeability’ measures, such as ‘modal filters’ mid‐way along residential roads, Leswin, Bayston and Darville Road in particular, to ‘filter out’ traffic unsuitable as through traffic in a residential area;
- Removal of local ‘rat run’ along Lawrence Buildings and stopping southbound drivers from doing an illegal left turn onto Brooke Road in order to continue along Leswin Road;
- Safer pedestrian crossings to the High Street—this is a particular issue for people with children in William Patten school;
- Better traffic light placement and phasing;
Not just in LARA area but also other adjoining areas—e.g. ‘filtered permeability’ in the area south of Northwold Road and east of Rectory Road.

3.2
Louisa added some more background to this last point, stating that one of the approaches we had taken as ward councillors was to campaign for improvements on the roads that the Council does control (Bayston, Darville, Leswin, part of Evering) as this was more achievable in the short term (whilst not losing site of the long term aim of removing the gyratory). The issue was first raised with ward councillors by residents in the area who had concerns about the route to school and the safety implications for families with small children. Louisa confirmed that as a result of a
walkabout with residents and lobbying by ward councillors, the Leswin Area is next in line for a 20mph zone, but that we had stressed that this scheme needed to also look at other road safety measures at the same time. There will be a full consultation with residents over the scheme and the indicative timing for this at the moment is end of 2010/11. This will be an important opportunity to feed in ideas for improving the rat run situation and making these roads safer and shouldn’t beseen as a distraction from the main campaign against the one way system.
We have already picked up the issue of turning left illegally at the bottom of Lawrence Buildings (the Council are looking to improve the warning signs here) and the danger of the crossing outside Sainsburys (TfL control this and haven’t been positive about any improvements that can be made so far).

4 How do we go about it / What needs to be done?
There seems to be a wide range of different groups and interested parties who have a stake in this issue and have been campaigning on different levels. The aim now is to pull together as many ‘strands’ as possible in order to form a more powerful campaign. It is probably unrealistic to get all interested parties to agree on all points, however we should aim for a general consensus before starting to lobby in earnest. LARA to discuss at next committee meeting and then arrange
for wider residents’ and interest group meeting with LCCiH present – consider St. Paul’s Church Hall.

Who do we address?
LCC and Louisa advised that TfL is the main organisation to be lobbied for our purpose, as it is important to note that the A10, Manse, Evering and Rectory Road are all red routes and controlled by TfL. LCC and Louisa referred to TfL’s feasibility study on the removal of the gyratory which had not been positive in terms of removing it. Louisa added that in light of this, Hackney Council was conducting its own appraisal of the TfL study to look further into the options. The results of this are due imminently and at the moment, we understand there will be a full consultation with local residents and stakeholders to get a more coherent sense of local feeling on the issue. Louisa felt that there is an opportunity for the wider LARA meeting with local stakeholders to feed into this consultation but this would be more effective as a resident led campaign (as the Shoreditch campaign was). Due to local government purdah from the 29th March, the consultation is unlikely to happen before then.

6 Next Meeting
TBA – LARA to keep all attendees informed of next meeting date to be arranged.

Comments Please !
If you have any comments about the above notes and want to give your opinion about local traffic concerns, please respond in our comments section below. We welcome input, for and against, any of the suggestions outlined above.

Growing Communities Need Plastic Bags!

A note from Growing Communities, the organic fruit and vegetable box scheme which operates from The Old Fire Station on Leswin Road:

Hi all

Growing Communities is holding another bag amnesty! Our stocks of plastic bags have run down completely, so please, please, please can you bring along any bags you have lying around at home when you collect your veg this week.

In fact, we'd love it if people not on the scheme could bring bags to the Fire Station. There's a cupboard in the yard that's labelled "Plastic bags" and it would be great if people could bring them in there any time.

Also, this year, for the first time, we’re entering the Observer Ethical Awards. We’re putting ourselves in for the Grassroots Project category but we’d also like to enter the Best Local Retailer category, which is voted for by readers.

If you’re happy with the box scheme and/or love coming to the Farmers’ Market, please could you vote for us before this Friday, 12 March, if you haven’t already done so.

Go to www.observer.co.uk/ethicalawards, register and type Growing Communities in the box for Best Local Retailer.

Everyone who votes will be entered into a draw to win food hampers, gift boxes, skincare products, an Ecover house clean, a train and bike tour of Provence.

Thanks and good luck from everyone at GC

Growing Communities

The Old Fire Station
61 Leswin Road
London N16 7NX

Tel: 020 7502 7588
www.growingcommunities.org
Please note that our email has changed to growcomm@growingcommunities.org

Do We Really Need Another Betting Shop?

Just heard that the new bookies has been given the go ahead - that means there are now six betting shops in Stoke Newington which is pushing it a bit I think.