Low Traffic Neighbourhoods Planned Across All of Chiswick
Bid for next tranche of funding includes seven new schemes
LTN barriers in place elsewhere in the borough. Picture: Guy Lambert
A report due to be presented to Hounslow Council’s Cabinet has revealed that more Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) are being planned for the Chiswick area.
Seven additional schemes on top of the plans already announced would mean that most of the W4 area would be in an LTN if they were all implemented.
The new LTNs, which are usually implemented by blocking off some roads to discourage through traffic, are in the areas of the following roads: Bath Road, Duke Road, Beverley Road, Wavendon Avenue, Sutton Lane, Marlborough Road and Oxford Road North.
Details of these schemes are not available yet as it believed they are only at the planning stage.
Similar schemes have proved very controversial in Ealing borough with over 2,000 people turning out to protest against them. Many people living in the areas where they have been implemented have welcomed the schemes. Wandsworth Council scrapped their LTNs after complaints that they had led to an increase in congestion.
The borough has already been given over a million pounds for schemes including LTNs, pop up cycle lanes and for school streets as well as £200,000 on enforcement cameras. This is for schemes that have already been announced.
Following their first settlement with the Department for Transport (DfT) covering May to October 2020, TfL are now in discussions with government about funding availability for the next 6-18 months with announcements expected around the time of the cabinet meeting on Tuesday 20 October. It is anticipated that there will be some allowance for ongoing funding for borough-led Streetspace projects, with some allocation to cover previously progressed schemes that were to be funded by TfL Local implementation Plan (LIP) funding, or through other TfL pots such as Liveable Neighbourhoods which covers the South Chiswick scheme.
A map showing LTNs planned in the borough
The borough has already has a number of bids in for consideration under the DfT ‘Tranche 2’ funding stream which is being coordinated by TfL. This includes 11 Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes one of which is in Prebend Gardens a road which is suffering from displaced traffic due to other road closures. Feasibility planning is ongoing into the Prebend Gardens scheme and an announcement is expected later in October.
TfL have also sought further funding from DfT to cover additional Streetspace schemes, alongside some of the ‘business as usual’ investment previously confirmed to the boroughs through the LIP and Liveable Neighbourhood processes for 2020/21. Further details on this are expected this month.
The seven additional LTNs in Chiswick are part of Phase 3 of this funding and have yet to be costed. It is envisaged by the Council that this work will be undertaken as part of a revision to the LIP Delivery Plan for 2022 – 2025.
In addition to the LTNs more school street projects are planned for the area including around Chiswick and Bedford Park Preparatory School, Kew House and the Falcons School for Boys.
Conservative opposition spokesperson on transport Cllr Sam Hearn said, “The bringing forward of a report to Hounslow’s Cabinet seeking agreement in principle to the development of a further raft of LTN projects across Chiswick, and indeed the Borough, is highly premature. The evidence that any such schemes are needed is slim to say the least and largely based on some weak evidence gathered pre-Covid.
"It would surely be sensible to review the the many schemes already implemented and in the process of implementation, before embarking on what could well be abortive work on any further schemes.
"For example, what sense is there in working up plans for a cycleway across Grove Park before we know the impact on traffic volumes of the closures of Hartington Road and Thames Road? Do we really need to waste time and effort “spilling a lot of paint on the road” if rat running has been largely eliminated?
"All across London councils are removing hastily installed and poorly designed schemes that, as in Chiswick, residents have not asked for and have comprehensively rejected. Hounslow Council should take a little time to reflect on why it is allowing policy to be driven by the ideology of small but vocal cycle lobby rather than seeking all residents’ views via a genuine public consultation.”
To have your say on any of Hounslow’s trial Streetspace schemes click on this link or email the transport team on traffic@hounslow.gov.uk.
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October 19, 2020