Forum topic: New plans for Fox Lane quieter neighbourhood revealed

Enfield Council's revised plans for the Fox Lane quieter neighbourhood, which were published today, will dramatically reduce traffic and associated pollution, noise and road danger over a large area of residential streets stretching from Palmers Green to Southgate. Subject to approval by the deputy council leader, the proposals will be implemented on a trial basis for six months starting this summer.

The trial will also serve as a 6-month formal consultation period, during which the council will also carry out monitoring of the effect on roads outside the area. Depending on the results of both, the scheme will either be discontinued, modified or made permanent.

Leaflets showing the new scheme were today distributed to homes in the neighbourhood, and more detailed information has been uploaded to the Let's Talk Enfield website, along with an explanatory video.

The revised Fox Lane quieter neighbourhood scheme - click on the image to enlarge

Compared with the controversial proposals that were published last year, the new scheme has far fewer "modal filters" (ie obstacles to prevent cars driving through) and they will be mostly located at the Fox Lane end of roads coming off Aldermans Hill. Many drivers will thus have more direct routes to their destinations in the area. Gates near the railway bridge in Fox Lane and near the junction of Meadway and Bourne Avenue will allow through emergency services and waste collection vehicles, while preventing access by other vehicles..

Dramatically reduced traffic in the area

By preventing drivers from cutting through the area, the scheme will lead to falls in traffic of 75 per cent or more in the busiest streets, such as Meadway, Amberley Road, Greenway and Old Park Road, while Fox Lane itself could experience a reduction of 90 per cent or more.

Table: Estimated effect of scheme on traffic flows*

(If the table is not displaying properly, click here)

 *The numbers shown in the table indicate the total number of vehicles on the road - both with a local origin or destination, and traffic cutting through the area

Impact on surrounding roads

While estimating the effect on traffic volumes within the area is relatively easy, forecasting what will happen on surrounding roads is much less straightforward. There is ample evidence of "traffic evaporation" following the introduction of low-traffic neighbourhoods elsewhere. This reflects the fact that traffic is not an uncontrollable elemental force of nature, it is the result of human behaviour, and schemes such as this are designed to change behaviour, to encourage less driving and more active travel - walking, riding bikes, using public transport - and to move longer distance travel back to the strategic roads where it belongs and which it would have used before satnav made it easy for drivers to navigate complex routes designed to shave a small amount of time off their journeys, to the detriment of people living along the routes.

With streets inside the area being quieter and safer, and with cleaner air, some residents will walk to destinations outside the area when they previously would have driven, thus removing traffic. Some of the drivers that currently cut through the area will use completely different routes that may not go anywhere near Palmers Green or Southgate. Given time, new patterns of travel will emerge. There's no reliable way of forecasting what they will be - a sufficiently long trial is the most effective way to find out.