23 June (Part 2) - Abbey Wood Village. Open for business
I
attended a presentation to traders in Wilton Road a couple of weeks ago. Someone from Bexley Council
provided some interesting facts and figures
on what Greenwich and Bexley Council had in mind for the areas a little beyond
the immediate Crossrail Station environs. No one wants to see a hard demarcation
line when going from where £6 million is spent close to the station and where
nothing at all has been done. That is why Boris Johnson as Mayor (with
contributions from both Councils) provided £300,000 for improvements to what has
been renamed Abbey Wood Village. Little of that money, or what remains of it
after the Councils charged expenses, has yet been spent, but developments are expected very shortly.
It was announced that improvements to Wilton Road will be managed
by Greenwich Council and on the other side of the railway line Bexley Council will
look after Harrow Manorway. Both roads as you will know have the borough
boundary going down the middle. The flyover itself is entirely Bexley’s.
When the Wilton Road work was going to start was in doubt. A debate was
in progress as to whether the materials to be used would be ordinary or something
special. The latter would cause a significant delay but ‘cheap’ could be done almost straight away.
Over the past few days there have been developments both north and south of the railway line.
In Harrow Manorway mysterious signs have been erected to say that road
resurfacing was due to commence on 16th June. It didn’t. What is that all about? The road
was resurfaced less than a year ago and must be one of the smoothest in the borough.
The same presentation revealed that the road will be widened with cycle tracks by the time the
new station opens so why resurface a newly reconstructed road which is likely to be ripped up next year? No wonder the
stories of backhanders circulate.
In Wilton Road holes have appeared all over the place. It remains to be seen what they are all about. Exploratory work according to a man with a shovel.
Starting very soon the public will be asked to choose the design for a sign at
the end of Wilton Road. The one in the picture above is only a mock up. There will be voting forms, as if you haven’t had
enough of voting, in Occasions, the
flower and gift shop, and probably in the Abbey Arms opposite too.
The second picture above is of the almost constant traffic jam that Bexley
Council has created by its new road design. The main problem is probably the two
pedestrian crossings only 150 metres apart. I took some timings. The pedestrian
phase lasts 20 seconds and if the Wait button is pressed again immediately,
traffic is only given 20 seconds of green. With two crossings so close together
traffic can be halted for two thirds of the time.