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News and Comment December 2022

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18 December (Part 1) - Live. Die. Repeat

He got away with it in 2007 so why not do it again? What? Who?

Cabinet Member Craske. He consulted on a road narrowing scheme which resulted in a section of Abbey Road, Belvedere being so narrow that to this day buses wait at each end for another to pass in the opposite direction. As the section includes a bus stop it can be quite a long wait.

Bus Bus Stop

Both photos from 2009 before road narrowing and conversion of the right hand cycle track to residents’ parking bays making for an even better chicane.

Not much of a consultation as it happens. Their excuses for not consulting more widely and in my road included that they only went to residents directly facing Abbey Road. This was proved to be a lie when I requested a copy of the list of addresses.

Elstree Gardens was consulted along with Tunstock Way, Blakemore Way, Bright Close but not Samson Close which is its mirror image off Carrill Way or Carrill Way itself which is closer than both. Halifield Drive but not Coptefield Drive which was particularly odd because Halifield and Coptefield are renamed continuations of each other but Halifield is further away from the narrowed section of Abbey Road than Coptefield. Residents of the latter can only exit to the narrowed section of Abbey Road, Halifield residents do not. The consultation excuses were most likely a lie to cover the incompetence.

Bexley Council always lies so nonsense has to be accepted.

Objections to making a safe road dangerous (no accidents before, lots afterwards) fell into seven different categories all of which were considered - or perhaps not - by Peter Craske who set the example since followed by Sadiq ULEZ Khan and rejected all of them.

Sidcup libraryThus emboldened Craske is doing it again although unlike in 2007 when he was looking to solve a problem that didn’t exist, that is not true of New Road on the Belvedere, Abbey Wood border.

It is a bus route, a major bus route. Routes B11, 469 and 301. It is sometimes heavily congested and once again that is Craske’s fault. When TfL wanted to run an express service from Bexleyheath to serve the Elizabeth line station the obvious direct route was via Knee Hill but Bexley Council, and maybe Greenwich too, refuse to straighten out a couple of gentle kinks and push the kerb out a foot on each side which would transform safety considerations and allow the easy passage of a bus.

Instead the 301 has to divert on to a residential road. For the record, waiting 23 minutes for the first bus to serve the bottom end of New Road yesterday with nothing to do other than study the timetable I noted that frequencies have been reduced so the 28 buses an hour reported six weeks ago is somewhat wide of the mark. Nevertheless there is a problem which Bexley Council does its best to exacerbate by allowing parking opposite bus stops.

Maybe they are partially coming to what little senses they have. The council has proposed clearing the bus route of inconveniently parked cars. Not as beneficial as fixing Knee Hill but easier and with the bonus of revenue generation. It is perhaps the best short term solution.

Where logic flies out of the window is the assumption that commuters displaced from New Road will park even further away in Harvil Crescent, Hurst Lane, Priory Drive and Woolwich Road.

No they won’t, those roads require a 15 minute or more uphill walk on the way home whereas my own road is a third of the distance and on the level.

Andrew Bashford, who was promoted after provably lying to me about Abbey Road, has a long record of poor decisions so one should not expect a sensible response to the commuter parking problem.

Belvedere Councillors have said on Facebook that the residents of the roads beyond New Road will be consulted but those more likely to suffer the consequences of the proposal, like me, will not.

Notable quotes from those Councillors are “All comments and objections will be reported to the Cabinet Member for Places, Councillor Peter Craske for his consideration and final decision for its approval. Should there be no objections the respective TMOs will be made, and the proposals installed on site.”

That implies that if there are objections Craske will halt the plan. That would be a first, just like ULEZ Khan his decision will have been made already. Craske wrecked Abbey Road because he could. Why would one ever trust the judgment of someone who set up a blog entitled Malcolm’s Masterbations? But the Baroness does.

The Belvedere Councillors go on to say they are very disappointed that there are no plans to alleviate the commuter parking problems closer to the station.

I know that Councillor Hinkley has been pressing the case since the beginning of September but without any useful response. The electoral choice in Belvedere has been useless Conservative candidates or Labour ones who are ignored.

 

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