Richard Eason from Enfield Council's Healthy Streets team addresses a packed meeting of Fox Lane & District Residents' Association
It was standing room only at last week's open meeting of Fox Lane & District Resident's Association (FLDRA) as people from the Association's catchment area (and some from further afield) flocked in, hoping to discover what Enfield Council has in mind for the Fox Lane Quieter Neighbourhood scheme, now that the planters experiment has been officially declared a failure. Actually, we didn't learn much at all about what new traffic calming measures will be proposed, but it was nevertheless a very useful meeting because of what we, the Council and the FLDRA found out about residents' views on traffic volumes and speeds in the so far not very quiet "quieter neighbourhood" area.
The guest speaker was Richard Eason, the council officer in charge of the council's Healthy Streets Programme - this is the new and more appropriate name for what was previously known as Cycle Enfield. Predictably, Richard was only a few minutes into his presentation when he was interrupted by shouted complaints about the A105 cycle lanes. However, helped by polite yet firm chairing by another Richard (Richard Mapleston, the FLDRA Chair), Richard was able to quickly get the meeting back on track by asking for a show of hands on two fundamental questions: did people think there was a problem with too much traffic; and did they think there was a problem with traffic speeds. Both questions received a very decisive Yes vote, which rather took the wind out of the sails of some of the people who had come along to oppose traffic calming measures and probably expected that most people in the room would share their views.
Richard (Eason) began by setting the context for the Healthy Streets Programme: the Mayor of London's Transport Strategy out to 2041; and the benefits of reducing car usage and encouraging more walking, cycling and public transport in terms air quality, health and road danger reduction. The goal is a long-term shift in travel modes - a 20-year strategy focussed on town centres and on residential neighbourhoods. He acknowledged the difficulty in balancing infrastructure improvements for cyclists with the need to keep buses moving.
On the specifics of the Fox Lane neighbourhood, Richard said that removal of the planters will begin this week. The planters and the plants in them will be preserved and alternative uses found for them. His team will be developing a new set of ideas. There will be an exhibition, opportunities for feedback, and the new solutions will be trialled, using before and after data to judge their effectiveness. However, if there were any clues as to what the new solutions might be, then I didn't pick them up.
The remainder of the meeting consisted of questions and answers and of statements and comments by people in the audience. Views expressed ranged from "I'm against all road closures, roads are there to be driven on" to "blocking streets works, make it inconvenient" via "will ruin the Palmers Green shops". And while it was clear that there were people in the audience who don't want any traffic calming, the comments that stood out most were by people who are impatient to see decisive measures:
"Act boldly, swiftly, give it a go!"
"Be ambitious, have the balls!"
"We don't want drawn-out consultations."
Several attendees had lived or worked in other boroughs where bold measures have had a transformative effect - Waltham Forest, Finsbury Park and Hackney were all quoted. As someone remarked:
"Walthamstow works - no need to re-invent the wheel".
Asked whether the views expressed during consultation would be followed, by someone who clearly considered that the cycle lanes had been imposed against the wishes of those consulted, Richard made it clear that a consultation is "not a referendum": the council would be asking for people's views on how to implement schemes, not for permission to implement them.
Summing up, the meeting was more useful for what we learnt about the feelings of residents about traffic in their neighbourhood, rather than what we found out about the council's plans. Hopefully, we won't have to wait long before we do find out.
