Minutes from our Last Public Meeting

LARA meeting on June 17th 2010 was held in the Church Hall at St Pauls at 7pm and was attended by over 30 local residents.

Also present were representatives of the Council, The London Cycling Campaign, the Stoke Newington Common User Group, Stoke Newington Local Business Association and Stamford
Terrace residents’ Association.

There were two agenda items for the meeting – a local traffic strategy and the planned BIGLUNCH event to be held in the Church garden or ‘Recreation ground’ on July 18th.

The Chair (Jim Westwood – Leswin Rd) opened the meeting and thanked everyone for
attending, explaining that the retention or scrapping of the Stoke Newington one-way system
which borders the LARA area (‘the gyratory’) was not the main item for debate at the meeting. The attendees were asked to offer views and suggestions for what might be achievable in the shorter term that would reduce traffic risks to pedestrians, cyclists and local residents and their children. A paper was distributed that identified these key points.

Andrea Jung, (Darville Rd resident and traffic sub-group lead) had invited representatives of local bodies, councillors and Andrew Cunningham from Hackney council to the meeting to take part in the discussion and to give their views. She outlined the background to the Lara traffic sub-group and her own involvement which had grown out of frustrations with cycling around the traffic system to get to her home. Since then investigations of previous and ongoing work and consultations on this subject had shown that;

• Transport for London were the body responsible for all main red route roads while the council had responsibility for all residential and side roads.

• TFL had completed a report on the gyratory which had concluded that it should remain in place.

• Hackney council were conducting their own review in response to this published report and this would be available in the Autumn

• London Cycling campaign were opposed to the continuation of the one-way system and supported a return to two way traffic on the high street

• Local opinion was not unanimous on this topic, with some residents in favour of a return to two way traffic and some opposed.

• The council were proposing to trial speed cameras in Church Street in the Autumn

A representative of the Stoke Newington Local Business Association was opposed to a return to two way traffic on the grounds that business deliveries, already difficult on the red route, would become impossible if the high road became single lane in two directions. Many residents spoke of their concerns about speeding and the dangers posed to children. A 20mph zone was proposed for the LARA area and councillors and Mr Cunningham were asked why this could not be implemented immediately. Residents were also broadly in favour of contraflow cycle lanes.

Mr Cunningham explained the reasons why the new speed cameras could not be installed on Rectory Rd but would be placed on Church Street. This was a result of traffic and risk analysis which had shown that statistically, accidents were far more likely on Church Street. He explained that funding was earmarked for implementing a new traffic scheme in the next financial year ( beginning April 2011) and that a public consultation would follow on from the publication of the report in the autumn. This consultation would involve residents, businesses, shoppers and other local stakeholders

Another resident proposed that community and arts based schemes should be considered as a means of changing the local area with the goal of calming traffic flows, as well as or instead of a rules and regulatory based approach to the problem.
Air quality was thought to be a significant risk too, though some felt that congestion would worsen if the high street was returned to two way traffic.

The Chair described earlier work that the previous LARA had done to lobby for one way traffic in Leswin Road. This had been considered a qualified success as it had created similar problems in Bayston Road. This was one of the reasons why Councillor Thompson was supportive of the Council’s position regarding a more wholistic review of the problems and solutions – it was tempting to take immediate action but this could have the effect of moving the problem to other roads. LARA had proposed a more comprehensive scheme at that time but this did not have the support of the police, as the position of the station on the one way system meant that they relied on using side roads to exit the area quickly when needed. There was no representative of the police at the meeting but it was agreed that they should be involved in these discussions at the earliest opportunity.

Generally there was much support from the meeting to taking action and maintaining pressure for change. Mr Cunningham agreed that he would launch the report and consultation at the next meeting in September.

The next item was the announcement of the LARA BIG LUNCH, a community picnic event which would be held in the church ground, or ‘rec’ on 18th July. Niall Weir, the Rector of St Pauls, explained some of the history of the closure of the ground and a recent initiative to reopen it and secure heritage funding to have it restored to full accessibility and community use. The afternoon would include entertainment, music, children’s activities and a bring-a-dish meal. Volunteers to take part and help with setting up, publicity and marshalling on the day were encouraged to contact one of the committee members to get involved. Everyone will be welcome at the lunch.


The meeting closed at 8.15pm

DAJ June 2010