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News and Comment March 2023

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5 March - Who’s sorry now?

In the early part of this millennium Bexley Council was not afraid of consultations and I remember two of them clearly because the results affected me. In 2008 the Cabinet Member for Transport, one Peter Craske, decided it would be good to put pedestrians in conflict with cyclists and motorists in conflict with each other. On 15th February he issued a document entitled “Abbey Road - Abbey Wood to Erith - Proposed Footway widening and Cycle Route Improvements”.

It specifically said that that there would be “No changes to the existing yellow line restrictions” which as you might guess turned out to be a bit of a Craskism.

The document referred to a four week consultation carried out in November 2007 which was news to me as a resident living about 100 metres from Abbey Road. I asked for details of that consultation and discovered that households on Abbey Road and Elstree Gardens which has a direct connection to Abbey Road were consulted.

Two more roads (Shortlands Close and Manorside Close) without a direct connection to the narrowed section of Abbey Road were also consulted but Carrill Way and Fossington Road which lead directly to the narrowed section were not.

Moving further afield Bright Close was consulted but Sampson Close which is its mirror image on the other side of Carrill Way was not. But apart from that the whole of the 1987 development sometimes called Priory Gardens was consulted as far away as Haliford Drive but Coptefield Drive which has much more direct access to Abbey Road was not.

All very strange. There was no logic to Craske’s decision.

Abbey Road residents opted 52% in favour of Craske’s plan and the more distant roads averaged 76% in favour. All the objections were dismissed, £400,000 was spent and the result was a series of accidents and one fatality just as my son (who was at the time a consultant to foreign governments on such matters) had predicted. He provided me with copies of the official government road planning guidance to prove his case.

Commuter parking Residents' parking Residents' bad parkingBack in Labour’s time (2002 to 2006) Coptefield Drive was not left out of the consultation processes. Did we want a Controlled Parking Zone?

The majority of residents, including me, said no and as a result the CPZ boundary remained west of the Green Chain Walk footbridge. See diagram below.

Probably Coptefield Drive residents have come to regret that although the near 20 year old proposals look to be a little inadequate now. Only the recessed parking bays were to become residents’ bays and drivers would remain free for most of the day to park on blind corners and block roads as they do now.

To combat the current Elizabeth line problems double yellow lines are required at all junctions, and not just some of them as presently the case, and in turning circles as envisaged on the original Priory Gardens planning consent. The three recessed bays should be marked so as to prohibit end on parking which sometimes forces traffic on to the footpath. It would stop vans blocking junctions too.

Bexley Council could fix these problems very easily, it requires a Traffic Order and some paint. Carrill Way is scheduled for resurfacing soon. That would be a good time for Bexley Council to show that it still has a modicum of interest in serving residents.

CPZ
Note. With thanks to another Elizabeth line victim who filed his CPZ papers more carefully than I did. The observant may notice that three out of four Free bays south of the railway line have gone. Pedants viewing on a very large screen may smile at Bexley Council’s inability to spell Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

 

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