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Monday, 06 July 2020 08:39

A very interesting proposal from Surrey County Council!

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The email below has been sent to LOSRA by Nick Healey, the Area Highway Manager for Surrey County Council and makes for an interesting read:

"Following the Government’s recent announcements we have been working with Borough and District Council officer colleagues to identify potential Active Travel schemes across the county.  One project that is being put forwards is in the Lower Sunbury area.  This is an area with significant potential to increase walking and cycling, and which has a history of casualties on all the main roads that run through it.  One factor that residents frequently say is a discouragement to walking and/or cycling is their concerns about safety due to the volume and speed of traffic.  At school run times, Lower Sunbury can become heavily congested, despite the catchment areas for the local schools being relatively small.

"To try to address this we are developing a scheme of tactical road closures and modal filters.  Potential locations for these are marked with a red bar and circle on the attached plan.  Where these fall on a bus route, we would implement a “modal filter” which means that only buses, cyclists and pedestrians would be permitted to pass through.  Where these do not fall on a bus route, we would implement a “tactical closure” which would be a closure to all motorised vehicles – full access would be maintained for cyclists and pedestrians.  The objective of this scheme is to remove all east-west through traffic from the Lower Sunbury area, which means the only traffic entering the area would be residents, or people accessing a specific destination within the area.  By removing through traffic, we would hope to make the area much more attractive for residents to walk and cycle within the area – for example accessing local shops or taking their children to school.

"Please note that at this stage the number and locations of the proposed closures are not set in stone.  For example it has been suggested that an additional closure should be considered either in Pine Wood or Bracken Wood.  The closures are being designed so that they could be changed, adapted and / or removed in response to how people actually use and respond to the scheme.

"Funding has now been made available to deliver this scheme.  We are now  contacting schools and local associations to inform them of the proposed scheme, and also arranging for notices to be put up on site to inform local residents and drivers.  This will give people the opportunity to raise concerns or suggest amendments.

"I would be grateful if you were able to use your networks to push this information out into the local community.  If anyone has any comments the best way to pass them to the Council is by e-mail."

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To see plan and the areas affected, click here

46 comments

  • Comment Link Dave Monday, 06 July 2020 23:11 posted by Dave

    This is such a fantastic plan, it is such a horror to try and walk along thames street, with cars skimming your elbow on the narrow pavements...no wonder all the village high street shops have gone. It was a joy when on a few occasions the road has been closed due to road works.

    Please don't let the car obsessed old people fuck this one up.

  • Comment Link C S Story Monday, 06 July 2020 21:35 posted by C S Story

    Surrey Council need to spend their allocated £848,000 quickly! Government initiative to stop return to pre Covid19 car usage levels has 'missed the boat'. Active Travel Schemes are supposed to be for areas where public transport access is high. Lower Sunbury does not meet this criteria. The many older residents are not all able to walk, cycle nor use scooters. Blocking off roads will increase traffic queues e.g at Sunbury Cross and greatly increase pollution. This scheme has been rushed through as so-called temporary measures and not requiring thorough public or planning consultations. It is to be implemented permanently within a couple of months. People should make their objections known now.

  • Comment Link Sheila C Monday, 06 July 2020 13:14 posted by Sheila C

    This hasn't been thought through. Having seen a bicycle (one of the lycra crowd) over take a car which was was within the speed limit on Thames street this morning it would be much more sensible to ban bicycles! The cycle riders are in packs and are dangerous and rude. By all means restrict cars to residents only and visitors on some roads, but who ever thought this scheme up hasn't understood the practicalities. Residents cycling is not the same as wannabe Chris Froomes thinking they own the road.
    If the council really want to make Lower Sunbury attarctive to residents the first step should be to clear local parks of the yobs and drug addicts.

  • Comment Link Sheila C Monday, 06 July 2020 13:13 posted by Sheila C

    This hasn't been thought through. Having seen a bicycle (one of the lycra crowd) over take a car which was was within the speed limit on Thames street this morning it would be much more sensible to ban bicycles! The cycle riders are in packs and are dangerous and rude. By all means restrict cars to residents only and visitors on some roads, but who ever thought this scheme up hasn't understood the practicalities. Residents cycling is not the same as wannabe Chris Froomes thinking they own the road.
    If the council really want to make Lower Sunbury attarctive to residents the first step should be to clear local parks of the yobs and drug addicts.

  • Comment Link Mark W-J Monday, 06 July 2020 11:21 posted by Mark W-J

    Upon further inspection it seems that these are full closures, so access to the village is seriously restricted for residents. Only one way in and out of Elizabeth Gardens, for example. To get from one end of Manor Lane to the other will require a trip around Sunbury Cross. Yes, you should walk a couple of hundred yards if you can, but some people can't. All through traffic will be sent via Sunbury Cross (supposedly the most polluted part of Surrey), resulting in more congestion. Nice idea to make the village more pedestrian friendly, but can't see the residents being overly pleased with the knock-on effect.

  • Comment Link Mark W-J Monday, 06 July 2020 10:50 posted by Mark W-J

    How exactly is this going to be policed? Are they full-time closures or just during peak hours? What's to stop motorists from entering the closed area? How do you distinguish between residents, or people accessing a specific destination within the area, and those who are abusing the system? What happens to drivers who have travelled west along Lower Sunbury Road from Hampton when they reach a road closure at Kenton Avenue? Will this idea not just create more congestion along Staines Road East approaching Sunbury Cross, resulting in drivers looking to cut down Harfield Road or French Street and through the village? Is it April 1st already?

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