| Topic: | Re:Church Street closure | |
| Posted by: | Marina Thomas | |
| Date/Time: | 07/01/16 15:00:00 |
| Having just read Church street closure FAQ’s on the Hounslow Council’s website for the first time I am simply amazed! The 2 main reasons for closure are cited as “impact of through traffic on residents’ quality of life” and “approximately 50% of the morning peak traffic and 65% of evening traffic on these roads is through traffic”. This could be said about most of the roads in the borough. If we apply these 2 test, we could potentially close any major road in Hounslow. We could easily close off Busch corner due to impact of traffic on the residents and extremely high (and probably illegal) levels of NO2. I am pretty sure over 65% of journeys do not end at Busch corner, so should it be closed off for a trial and see if improves the quality of life? We could even close M4 or M25? or Heathrow? Heathrow definitely impacts my quality of life by 4 or 5 am landings, but do I demand for it to be shut down? Obviously not, I moved into my current property knowing fully well that it is under the flight path. The residents of Church street knew the road had always been there, for over 100 years. By the council’s own admission, making road one-way would have addressed the issues of reducing the traffic and allowed for more space to be allocated for pedestrians. Having just spent £120,000 on closure, will the council now find a bit more cash to paint over redundant single yellow lines along Church street? Apparently “Yellow lines are designed to help the free flow of traffic and ensure public safety.They are generally found in areas where there is likely to be a lot of free-flowing traffic and so parking in that area would cause disturbances and congestion.” If I can’t drive through, I’d like to be able to park freely and continue the remaining journey on foot. There is no reason to have parking restrictions in what now effectively is a residential cul-de-sac. By the way, a journey that normally took less than 10 minutes, was over 45 minutes this morning. And before anyone from the council suggests I take a bus, I would like to invite them to stand with me at a bus stop on London road in the morning and watch buses drive by without stopping because they are full to capacity! It seems bonkers to me that we would rather let thousands of school children along Twickenham road breathe polluted air all day for the sake of peace and tranquility of the few residents of Church street. |