30 December - Where’s the advantage?
Bexley Council shows no sign of easing up on its relentless war against
motorists and nowhere is that more in evidence than in Abbey Wood. Since they began making their
Crossrail related changes in March 2017 there has
been little to show for it apart from traffic queues. Now that a mere 18 months behind schedule
the end is in sight all one can say for it is that it looks good.
With Crossrail services unlikely until the year after next this is what Bexley Council appears to have
given to the community for the eight million or so of taxpayers’ money it has spent.
• A 40 m.p.h. dual carriageway has been converted to a 20 m.p.h. single
carriageway, one is now a bus lane.
• 30 m.p.h. carriageways have had their footpaths separated from vehicles by large
granite flower beds filled with trees but the speed limit has been dropped to 20 m.p.h.
• The stairway from Gayton Road up to the Harrow Manorway flyover has been out of use for more
than a year with no sign of that being situation reversed.
• Felixstowe Road has been designed in such an incredibly stupid way such that
the slightest misjudgment on a near to right angled bend will send a vehicle
straight into the station lifts.
• Because there is no kerb on either of the right angle bends large vehicles
delivering to the small Industrial Estate cut the corner and run across the
footpath. To be fair, given the poor design, drivers have little alternative.
Those who are suffering most are of course the local traders.
To the north of the station shoppers must complete their purchases within
five minutes. To the south a similar attack on trade is being pursued.
At Traders’ Association meetings three years ago I heard Council officers tell
shop owners how they would be sitting on little goldmines once the new station
opened; nothing can be further from the truth. The new station and its various
exit points leads people away from the shops.
Some spent tens of thousands of pounds on improvements to their facilities to
cope with the promised demand, now the loans are just millstones. The last time
any Bexley Council official addressed the Traders at one of their meetings was
in March 2017. There has been no consultation since; they didn’t listen anyway.
Not content with traders becoming unfortunate collateral damage of their
handiwork Bexley Council is determined to inflict as much pain as possible. Two shop
closures are not enough for them, further restrictions on trade must be inflicted.
There is to be a Bexleyheath Broadway style area wide Restricted Parking Zone
which means that you cannot park anywhere except where specific permission is
given. The well understood single and double yellow line system is thrown out of
the window and replaced by an money motivated ‘catch all’.
Unless some are to be removed, new disabled parking bays will take their number
up to a third of the total. They will be abused by people taking the train to
bigger shopping centres and local traders will suffer again.
The purple blind has been installed since the gift shop closed on 26th November 2019. Behind it is a whitewashed window.