10 October - Pay homage to the God of Lycra - and get it wrong
A man who lives just a stone’s throw from the Townley Road roundabout and has watched with increasing disbelief
Bexley Council’s antics in and around Albion Road was
quick to let me know when that roundabout was excavated with the loss of the
bluebell bulbs planted there when it was first built. My correspondent has
a long memory, he remembers the bluebells that occurred there naturally on an even older roundabout.
Bluebells, as he was keen to point out, are protected under the Wildlife and
Countryside Act although I think that must apply only to wild bluebells. If it
finds wider application then I am in trouble for removing some from my mother’s
garden 20 years ago which she had bought in a nursery. They still survive in my
front garden, their colour suggests they are Spanish bluebells while the
genuine article may grow in my back garden. I am after all close to one of London’s finest bluebell woods.
Pursuing the Wildlife Act question will be a waste of time, Bexley Council
always has an excuse for whatever it does, far too many laws are constructed
with the intention of giving officialdom freedom to do whatever it likes.
Nevertheless, prompted by the man’s report, a trip to Bexleyheath was called
for. The bluebells bulbs had most certainly gone from the raised roundabout, indeed everything had gone to a
depth of a foot or more below road level. Bexley Council will be hoping that
heavy rain does not encourage Great Crested Newts to take up residence.
As frequently happens while taking pictures of ugly street scenes with a big
camera passers by ask what I am up too. A young lady asked if I was Bonkers while
snapping away at Abbey Wood station this morning.
Maybe the choice of site name was unwise.
In Albion Road two local residents came up to me to point out what I may otherwise have missed.
I had already spotted that the barriers invited pedestrians to cross the road
but the far side was blocked (Photo 3). While there I watched one gentleman
make the crossing anyway, the barriers were not difficult to move.
However the lack of a cycle track (Photo 4) seemed to be an odd decision
given that the footpath at that point is wider than the the road. As everyone
familiar with the area will know, a pedestrian passes that way about every 20
minutes and maybe less.
I was given a guided tour of some of the other sights. It does not show well in Photo 5
but FM Conway ought to invest in a string and two sticks. The kerb meanders around rather
more than one would expect of a professional installer.
A long parking bay has been placed two metres from the kerb but it is not
sufficient to accommodate anything wider than a small saloon car.
If there is room for a parking bay on a stretch of single carriageway road why
is it time restricted? There is no provision for two lanes of traffic to enter
or exit Albion Road so it can only be another of Andrew Bashford’s (Traffic
Engineering Manager) stupidities.
It’s not the only one.
There is another ridiculously wide footpath to the east of Townley Road (Photo 7),
another that goes nowhere and therefore little used. A little further along
there is a pedestrian crossing (Photo 8) which leads to nowhere useful, just a plain brick wall.
If a break was created in it to allow access to
Royal Oak Road one might see a purpose to the crossing but this being a Bexley road scheme there is none.
In 20 minutes one cyclist came along Albion Road from the east and hugging the
roundabout as close as he could turned right into Townley Road thereby cutting
across traffic lanes twice.
My new found friends told me that one cyclist in 20 minutes was exceptional in their experience.