Hazelwood Lane to get a school street, but a more radical solution to its traffic problems isn't imminent

Hazelwood School is in the next batch of primary schools where the council will be introducing "school street" schemes.

Enfield's Council's deputy leader has revealed that a school street scheme will be installed outside Hazelwood School and should be in force by May. However, phase 2 of the Connaught Gardens LTN, which would solve chronic problems further along Hazelwood Lane, remains a more distant prospect.

Cllr Ian Barnes confirmed the news about Hazelwood in response to questions posed by PGC (see below for the full answers). He said that rather than using funds provided by Transport for London, money to pay for the ten new schemes in tranche 3 of the school streets programme will come from fines paid by drivers who ignore camera-enforced restrictions. Though he does not say so explicitly, the main source will doubtless be fines paid by people who have driven past No Motor Vehicle signs used to enforce low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), such as those at the Fox Lane railway bridge and in Meadway near the junction with Bourne Avenue.

What are school streets?

school street oakthorpe school School streets close a section of road adjacent to a school to through motor traffic at the times when children are arriving at or leaving school, reducing danger and pollution outside the school and making the immediate environment quieter and pleasanter. They not only encourage children and parents to walk, scoot or cycle to school instead of driving, but they also improve conditions for families arriving by car.

The council recently announced that the 12 school streets in phase 2 of the programme that were being operated as trials will now be made permanent and cameras will be installed in place of manually operated barriers. The schemes are at Bush Hill Park, Chase Side, De Bohun, George Spicer, Hazelbury, Keys Meadow, Kingfisher Hall, Lavender, Meridian Angel, Raynham, St. Paul’s and Worcesters primary schools. Phase 1 brought school streets to Oakthorpe School in Palmers Green and St Monica's School in Southgate.

The deputy leader says that the school street outside St Paul's, in Ringwood Way, Winchmore Hill, has proved particularly popular with parents, but some prominent local Conservatives have signed a petition which calls for it to be removed along with other restrictions on car movements. They include at least four of the members of Enfield Southgate Conservative Association who have been selected as candidates in next year's council elections.

Asked about plans to tackle a chronic problem affecting side streets at the eastern end of Hazelwood Lane - the intolerable effects of drivers using them as cut-throughs to the North Circular - Cllr Barnes wasn't able to promise a speedy solution. While phase 2 of the Connaught Gardens LTN scheme is still on the agenda of discussions with TfL, he wasn't expecting to hear any news on this front before the spring, which effectively pushes the scheme back to after the May council elections.

Deputy council leader Ian Barnes answers questions about the next batch of school streets

How many new school streets will there be in all and will they include Hazelwood Lane? Where will the funding come from?

I am delighted that we are introducing another ten school streets on top of the 14 we have already made permanent. The original intention was to introduce two new school streets per year, but in response to the pandemic we started to accelerate the work, and now we have our foot on the gas I decided that we may as well keep it there. Council officers are working incredibly hard to achieve this goal along with other measures to keep our children safe.

It is wonderful news that Hazelwood School has agreed to be part of the phase 3 school streets. Hopefully it will be installed and running by May 2022, but it could be earlier than that. This extends the ‘safe corridor’ I have often talked about in the Fox Lane QN trial all the way between Hazelwood and St Monica’s schools. After some negotiation I have successfully managed to fund this next batch of ten school streets using camera fines from across the borough.

The most recent school streets, which have just been made permanent, saw a 200 per cent increase in cycling and a 29 per cent decrease in drop-offs by car, so this kind of success makes it all the more disheartening to see that many Enfield Conservatives have signed a petition demanding the removal of the St Paul’s Primary school street in Ringwood Way.

St Paul's is easily the most popular School Street in the entire borough with 258 parents telling us they love the scheme. Once again we sadly see the Enfield Conservatives rejecting their own Conservative government’s recent ‘Net Zero Strategy’ to fight climate change, which recommends a massive increase in school streets.

Any idea what has happened to the next phase of TfL funding for LTNs, bike lanes etc? Have councils submitted bids?

The council received further funding from TfL in the summer. This included funds to continue with the Fox Lane Quieter Neighbourhood trial and Phase 1 of Connaught Gardens, along with funding to support making the phase 2 school streets permanent.

Council Officers are working incredibly hard alongside colleagues at TfL to identify future investment areas, although clarification on future funding levels is unfortunately not expected until the Spring. The Council has also secured investment from the Department for Transport for some other cycling projects in the borough.

People in the Connaught Gardens neighbourhood streets that are worst affected by through traffic - Arnold Gardens, Chimes Avenue, Callard Avenue, bottom end of Hazelwood Lane etc - are reporting that the situation is now worse than ever. Is there any good news on the horizon?

Anecdotally it feels like a full-on car-led recovery from the pandemic, but I note that public transport levels are creeping up again, so hopefully more residents will start to leave their cars at home if they are able. The Phase 2 elements of the Connaught Garden Quieter Neighbourhood are part of the funding discussion with TfL and I hope to hear the results of that discussion in the Spring.

Also the Government has committed to thousands more Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in its recent ‘Net Zero Strategy’ so I am sure we will soon see more funding from Grant Shapps coming down the line supporting our various programmes going forward.