The part-time low-traffic neighbourhood in Greenwich and Blackheath could be made permanent next month — despite the council admitting that it has exacerbated rat-running through side streets in Charlton.
Streets east and west of Greenwich Park have been closed to through traffic during peak times since November as part of long-running attempts to stop drivers using back roads as cut-throughs to avoid the A2, with residents complaining of abuse and antisocial behaviour from rush-hour drivers.
Greenwich Council officers have now recommended to Anthony Okereke, the council leader, that the scheme be made permanent with two modifications – one of which is allowing through traffic to use Royal Hill and Blissett Street in west Greenwich once again.
This follows campaigns by shopkeepers in Royal Hill, but council officers admit there will be an increased risk to children at James Wolfe primary school, which has a centre for deaf children on the street, as a result of the decision.
The other modification is to allow Blue Badge holders to register two vehicles rather than one.
While the scheme succeeded in slashing traffic levels in the areas covered by the scheme, council officers admit in their report to Okereke that it “may have contributed to localised increased traffic pressures on some specific roads within the Charlton area”: Eastcombe Avenue, Marlborough Lane, and Victoria Way, areas that were already well used as cut-throughs.
Monitoring took place before and after the opening of the Silvertown Tunnel. On the narrow northern section of Victoria Way, close to Fossdene primary school, a 23 per cent increase in evening rush-hour traffic was recorded after the opening of the Silvertown Tunnel. Marlborough Lane, close to Cherry Orchard primary school, was hit with a 40 per cent increase in evening traffic.
But publicity to residents attempts to paint a sunnier picture, claiming a 15 per cent traffic reduction in the Charlton area – a statistic that appears to be largely based on a fall in traffic using The Village and in the Charlton Lane area, well east of the affected roads.
Higher increases in traffic were also recorded on Blackheath Hill, Greenwich South Street and Woolwich Road, with Greenwich South Street recording a 58 per cent increase in the evening rush hour after the opening of the Silvertown Tunnel.
“Targeted mitigation measures for these locations, which may include restrictions on vehicle turning movements, traffic calming and speed reduction interventions, and improved pedestrian crossings in the Charlton area,” have been recommended, along with adjustments to the timings at the traffic lights at the foot of Blackwall Lane – a long-running bugbear since the construction of a cycle lane along the A206.
Consultation results found there had been a “limited impact” on the way people travelled around the area. Some 23 per cent of respondents said they were walking or cycling more, although 6 per cent said they were walking or cycling less. Some 20 per cent of people reported driving less, 16 per cent said they were driving more.
Drivers were more likely to respond to the consultation than non-drivers, the report found.
A final decision will be made next month, and could come as soon as next Friday, October 3. But Conservative councillors have already made clear they will challenge the scheme and call it in for further consideration.
At Wednesday night’s full council meeting, it was revealed that Greenwich had collected £3.8 million in fines from the scheme, but officials had not recorded how many of the drivers hit with penalty charges were residents of the borough.
The meeting also heard a resident call for a zebra crossing on Victoria Way, at the point where traffic levels have increased since the LTN was introduced.
Matt Hartley, the Conservative leader, said: “The truth is Greenwich Council was always going to make this scheme permanent – it has brought in £3.8 million in fines already, including from people caught out by wholly inadequate signs.
“Greenwich Labour’s astonishing admission to me this week that they don’t even know how many of these fines have hit the pockets of people who live in our borough shows how little they care about the impact this is having.
“And the concerns of local business owners who have lost trade, and people in boundary roads in areas like Charlton who have seen a huge increase in traffic, are being ignored as well.
It was revealed last week that a report for TfL that questioned the overall effectiveness of low-traffic neighbourhoods had been suppressed by the mayor’s transport agency.
Updated at 11.30pm with some extra detail from the figures.
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