| Topic: | Re:Re:Re: Lamberts Folly -Is Church Street really the reason for such huge delays? | Forum Home |
| Posted by: | Adam Beamish | |
| Date/Time: | 26/03/18 15:03:00 |
| Agree with you on many points Steve. I haven't gone back to check but I recall that the 267 bus monitoring post closure indicated that journeys along Twickenham Road were taking on average 3 minutes longer than previously, I stress 'on average'. But I would point that when I commuted everyday for 7 years from Brentford to either Teddington or Chersey, most of the time by car, I always had Google Maps running on my phone and it virtually never advised me that the quickest way of getting home was via Twickenham Road, or by St. Margarets Road, it always sent me via Kew Road. And I know from the times I ignored that just how slow traffic was then in both directions along Twickenham Road. The point being that Twickenham Road was heavily congested back then, there's many times pre 2015 I got the A316 roundabout and there was northbound Twickenham Road traffic already queuing right back to the roundabout. And yep, it does only get worse when more residential units are built, and generally surveys confirm that traffic flows have got slower everywhere with the passage of time. So, one mindset (which I lean towards without being completely in agreement with it) is to restrict parking as much as possible in new developments, and make it as undesirable as possible to use the private car for short journeys that could be done by other forms of transport. I don't think it actually works, because humans are a selfish lot, but what's the alternative ?. The difference between me and many posters is that I don't use the Church Street matter as an example of a Council ignoring the wishes of the majority - I don't subscribe to the theory that Councillors are duty bound to the wishes of their constituents (I'd never be a Councillor for precisely that reason), and I think it's very easy to just say "oh 72% of respondents wanted x", which reminds me of these adverts you see for beauty treatments when they make similar claims and then in small print it confirms that only about 100 people were asked !. Anyone asked "do you agree to this road closing which will increase journey times ?" they are going to say no. Yet the same people, who drive little Timmy to school everyday instead of getting off their backsides, then complain about congestion and pollution. When I worked at Hounslow if I'd have done a survey of "do you think the Council should take action against breaches of planning control ?", the vast majority in the west of the Borough would have said no, and the vast majority in the East would have said yes. Doesn't make either opinion right or any more or less correct that the other. Ultimately I'm not massively for or massively against the closure of Church Street, I can see both arguments, whereas I think other posters see it very much as a one way street (now there's an idea !). |