The 'Quiet' consultation that LBE doesn't want to tell you about

on Saturday, 21 October 2017. Posted in N21 Community

 

This consultation has now closed.Attempts were made to 'game' the outcome; with details of the consultation posted on a number of cycle relaed websites, urging people to take part.

 

We wait to hear the outcome of what Enfield Council say ws an exercise "to shape the plans for your neighbourhood by telling us what you think."

 

 

 

 

The Fernleigh Road Area 'Quieter Neighbourhood' proposals and consultation, went live quietly on Wednesday, 18th October. The proposals are designed to control vehicle movements on the 'ladder' of roads linking Hoppers Road with Green Lanes; from Station Road to The Bourne; through the heart of Winchmore Hill. 

 

The basic idea seems to deter drivers from using alternative routes to Green Lanes, especially during peak hours; even though this will make the congestion even worse. Have Enfield Council told Winchmore Hill about the proposals which are going to have a major impact on thousands of people?

 

Apparently 2,100 copies of this leaflet have been distributed around the roads on the 'ladder', but it is a generic leaflet, with no mention of Winchmore Hill or any of the proposed changes, merely that the details can be found on the cycle enfield website. 

 

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Suppose you go to cycle enfield in search of the comnsultation, you might start at the A105 page under 'Major Projects'?

Not a word about this consultation, not even a download of the leaflet and map which outlines what is being proposed. 

http://cycleenfield.co.uk/major-projects/a105-scheme-consultation/

 

Here is the map, which outlines the proposals on the consultation page

 

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Here is a summary of the key proposals:


* It is proposed to make the whole area a 20 MPH Zone, which most people are unlikely to object to, although traffic calmng measures such as speed humps (which the emergency services dislike), which few people are likely to object to. In the text of this illustration we have an admission that more people are using alternative routes through residential streets, to avoid the new junctions on Green Lanes.

 

* The left turn from Station Road into Ringwood Way and Ratcliffe Road will be banned, from 7:30-9:30 am and 5:00-7:00 pm. The text box reads:

"Although this will also affect residents, we are responding to complaints about the amount of traffic using these roads to avoid the new traffic lights on Green Lanes".

 

* It is intended to reduce the width of Orpington Road, Haselmere Road and Fernleigh Road to deter drivers from using them. This is to be done by widening the parking bays.The residents of Fernleigh Road and Woodberry Avenue are to be given a choice of either having their road narrowed with planters placed in the road or speed humps! This will entail the loss of seventeen parking spaces in Woodberry Avenue and five in Fernleigh Road. Is this really going to have any impact on driver behaviour, or more naivety on the part of the so called scheme designers?

 

* It is proposed that Eaton Park Road would become one way for vehicles travelling towards Green Lanes and that Meadowcroft Road would become one way in the other direction.

 

* It is also proposed that while all of Stonard Road would remain a two way road, there would be No Entry signs on it at the junction with Avondale Road. The effect of this "point no entry" would be that vehicles would not be able to use Stonard Road to travel all of the way from Green Lanes to Hoppers Road. It would also mean that vehicles coming out of Avondale Road would not be able to turn right into Stonard Road.

 Download the technical drawings here

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This so called consultation lasts for only three weeks. It is scheduled to close on 12th November 2017.


Here is the link, which you will need to take part in the consultation

https://www.consultations.cycleenfield.co.uk/traffic-and-transportation/fernleigh-avenue/consultation/intro/


You can request a paper copy of the questionnaire by calling 020 8379 4859.

 

 

So what do you think?


If you live on one of the above roads where new measures are proposed, perhaps you are happy at the prospect of fewer cars, but will that really happen?

 

Add your comments below; (Your contact details will not be published)

 

It is important for people to make their views known, both through the official consultation process, through the press and social media.

The Fernleigh Road Area 'Quieter Neighbourhood' proposals and consultation, went live quietly on Wednesday, 18th October. Are LBE planning to tell residents what they propose to do?

Comments (8)

  • John B

    John B

    22 October 2017 at 12:43 |
    this is putting sticking plaster over a disaster area. There was never a traffic problem pre the cycle lanes.

    Traffic planners of Enfield have little understanding of how we live and travel in this area. Under "quieter neighbourhoods" they propose no left turn travelling east down Station Rd into both Ringwood Way & Radcliffe Rd!. The prevention of a left turn into Ringwood Way from Station Rd will cause chaos, especially during school time & parents will just travel down Compton Road, Kings Ave, into Station Rd , and then right turn into Ringwood causing a log jam in Station Road. Seems a good way to block Station Rd with extra right turns!

    Our A105 was designed to be an arterial road, which is now severely clogged by a £42m badly designed cycle scheme, forcing essential traffic and cyclists into even busier residential streets. The proposed changes will have little effect in encouraging motor traffic back onto the A105 , will drain stretched Enfield financial resources and make life more difficult and no safer for most residents.

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  • Jane F

    Jane F

    22 October 2017 at 12:46 |
    I live on Woodberry Avenue, should I have had a leaflet delivered to my house? This is is all worrying news to me, it is hard enough parking in our own road as it is, without losing all these parking spaces

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  • Mark B

    Mark B

    24 October 2017 at 18:25 |
    I too have not received any leaflet. My neighbour suggested I read this on N21online. Just completed the consultation and had a rant! Not that will probably make any difference. Seems about 80% of residents did not want the Green Lanes changes but low and behold we now have a congested main road at the bottom of our once quiet residential streets. This will make things even worse in my opinion.

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  • Jon

    Jon

    25 October 2017 at 15:25 |
    I think the council are missing the point. The issue isn't just extra traffic but the dire parking situation the cycle lane has created. I live in Fernleign Road and there was never a problem with parking in Hazlemere or Fernleigh. there is now a major issue with people leaving cars for weeks and months at a time from the edge of the CPZ all over Arundle, Hazlemere and Fernleigh and I'm assuming the same problem exists in Woodberry. The cause of this I believe is the removal of the parking spaces in Green Lanes where people used to leave cars parked to sell, a local garage situated in the mews between Compton and Station Road who leaves cars for months and parked all along Hazelmere and often works on them on the street, people parking as they want to avoid the delays caused by parking in Sainsbury's car park. I'm against any reduction in parking spaces and believe the only way to improve the parking situation and stop our streets being used as a dumping ground by inconsiderate local businesses and individuals is to ask for an extension to the Residence Parking Zone. The cost depends on the size of the car and isn't that bad I have been told. I've spoken to some residents in Arlow Road and they are very happy with the parking situation now and even if they have off street parking they still buy a permit for their second car which they tell me can cost as little as £40 for a small car. I'm not against he 20 mile zone and speed humps but they have to do something to ease the parking situation!

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  • Cath O

    Cath O

    26 October 2017 at 18:47 |
    I live on Meadowcroft - me and my neighbours have had no leaflets: This is a disgrace and all a complete waste of money.

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  • Ann Bennett

    Ann Bennett

    27 October 2017 at 09:35 |
    The cycle lane work is largely to blame for people now using the side roads to get to their destinations and I know my friend who lives in Green Moor Link says that road is now almost busier than Green Lanes, with huge lorries, etc. trying to negotiate the bends and the islands. She lives between Green Dragon Lane and Hoodcote Gardens and more often than not has to suffer someone parked outside her house all day, and getting out of their drive (even though they always reverse on to the drive) is perilous.

    If they narrow Woodberry Avenue and Fernleigh Road, etc., where are the residents supposed to park? I had to go to the doctor’s last week and to my horror found that I can no longer park on Green Lanes so had to find somewhere in Fernleigh. If that is to be narrowed I think I will have to resort to a cab to get me there and back but not everyone can afford to do that. Obviously (to me at any rate), too many of our Councillors live in large houses with their own driveways and have no idea of the problems people have to park. And how are residents in this ‘quieter neighbourhood’ going to get on when they want a delivery, or, more to the point, want to move – where is the removal van going to go? Probably half a mile away at this rate.

    We will all have shortly to revert to using horses and carts, and I’m not totally joking when I say that.

    I know traffic is a problem but the Council are partly to blame, in my opinion, in that they let people convert their garages into rooms and thus have only room, if they’re lucky, for one car on the driveway. But, of course, there are many houses in this Victorian built part of London that don’t even have garages. We already have to accommodate wheelie bins, now cars. What next?

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  • Jo Davey

    Jo Davey

    27 October 2017 at 21:22 |
    It doesn't matter if you knew about the consultation or whether or not you complete it - it's probably a farce like the whole cycle lane ones!

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  • Jenny Carter

    Jenny Carter

    30 October 2017 at 11:21 |
    These proposals are going to be a disaster for residents living in Compton Road, on top of the ridiculous turning the council has constructed for us. We will have even more traffic, these plans should be torn up and someone sacked.

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