Addiscombe area Traffic Update September 2019
H.O.M.E residents will be aware that making Addiscombe Court Road and Canning Road “no entry” to northbound traffic in 2018 had the effect of putting very heavy pressure on H.O.M.E roads. There have been some nasty accidents at the junctions of Elgin Road, air quality has been compromised and there is increased night time noise.
The current tram works mean all our roads are very quiet at the moment, and we can see what they would be like when handling only local traffic.
After a long campaign by residents, including a large number of complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman, the Council has finally agreed to undertake a public consultation to look at changes to improve the current situation. However, at a Council meeting on 27th June 2019, it confirmed that it was only wiling to consult on one proposal, which does not involve any reversals of previous decisions. The Council’s proposal would see Elgin, Havelock and Outram Roads all to be made to work one way northbound; this would see 4 consecutive roads working southbound (Lebanon Road, Addiscombe Court Road, Canning Road & Clyde Road) and then 4 roads working northbound (Elgin, Havelock, Outram and Ashburton Roads). The direct impact of these changes would be to eliminate southbound traffic on H.O.M.E roads but this is likely to impact neighbouring roads and may not be the optimal solution.
H.O.M.E has asked the Council to include alternative proposals in its public consultation and to take an evidence based approach. The Council measured traffic volumes for a week in June 2019; unfortunately, the data was flawed as a result of poorly located equipment and the Council has agreed to amend it’s survey report, but the general trend which emerges from the raw data is that H.O.M.E roads now carry most of traffic travelling through the ladder roads and there are issues with night time traffic and the volumes of heavy vehicles using our roads (which all have 7.5T restriction).
The residents' associations that represent our ward (known as Addiscombe East) consist of H.O.M.E, ASPRA (covering roads East of Northampton Rd), Blackhorse (covering roads around Blackhorse Rd) and CHASE (covering roads on the North side of Lower Addiscombe Rd). These residents associations have had several meetings with our two Councillors, Maddie Henson and Jeet Bains, to look at this proposal and to consider other options. We all agree that other “best interests” proposals must be put to public consultation and that any scheme proposed – because everyone’s health and well-being is important – must be more equitable.
If you agree with this approach and/or have any other ideas, please get involved and contact your MP Sarah Jones (sarah.jones.mp@parliament.uk) and Councillors Maddie (maddie.henson@croydon.gov.uk) and Jeet (jeet.bains@croydon.gov.uk) and H.O.M.E (homeresidentsassociation@gmail.com).
TRAFFIC ARCHIVE
Traffic Matters - Let us have your opinions on options to improve local traffic flow by Saturday, 22 June
There will be a meeting on Thursday, 27 June on how to improve local traffic flow. It will be attended by:
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Addiscombe East and West Councillors
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relevant council officers
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two representatives from each residents association/community organisation adjoining the north side of Addiscombe Road, plus CHASE and Blackhorse Road Residents Association.
This meeting will discuss the options set out in a report of a previous meeting held on 16 March 2019 as well as additional suggestions from the Council or residents.
“The list below is a summary of suggestions put forward by individuals, not consensus, and fell into a four broad groups:
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Diverting traffic from the area as a whole by wider reconfiguration of largely major roads in the surrounding area – e.g. Open up Factory Lane, Wellesley, Blackhorse Lane, so that the overall flow of north bound traffic flows better on the main roads across the borough. Lobby traffic planner creators to navigate traffic on main roads only – not side roads.
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Greater enforcement of existing traffic control e.g. 20 mph speed limit and HGV, 7.5 tonne restrictions.
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Innovative approaches, eg using technology to enforce residents only traffic flows similar to congestion charge.
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Reconfiguration of the flows in the affected areas. These included :
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Lebanon Road to be one way north bound, as it had been in the past.
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all roads in ladder one way, with two northbound in Addiscombe West.
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close all the ladder roads to traffic, or make them all both-way (north-south).
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make Canning north bound
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make every alternate road north bound one way, and the remaining south bound one way
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mitigation measures for Elgin and Havelock Roads – eg. width restrictions in multiple places, no left turn at north end of road etc
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If you have further ideas, please let us have them via email.
Please note: by giving us your email you are opting into receiving emails from H.O.M.E, you can opt out at any time by emailing us.
If you don’t have access to email please drop us a note to one of the addresses below, giving your contact details (name, address and telephone number) together with your suggestions. Please write clearly.
27 Havelock Road - including anyone from Mulberry Lane
74 Outram Road
44 Elgin Road
29 Ashburton Road
Let us keep our streets and Addiscombe neighbourhood a safe and wholesome place to live in.
Traffic Matters - the next step
Your Residents Association (which represents everyone in your street) has arranged a meeting on 4th February
for all residents of the H.O.M.E RA roads to discuss any possible solutions to the increase in traffic and accidents
on our roads caused by the changes to traffic flow in Lebanon, Addiscombe Court and Canning Roads.
We are very grateful to the Ismaili Centre for letting us use their facilities for this important local meeting.
If you would like to know what has been discussed get in touch and we will send you the summary. There will be a follow up Addiscombe Community meeting on 16th March to look for a solution to the traffic displacement changes that have happened in the last year.
Please send us an email if you would like to get involved or represent your street.
Please tell your neighbours in our H.O.M.E roads to get in touch too with any suggestions or feedback.
Please note: by giving us your email you are opting into receiving emails from H.O.M.E, you can opt out at any time by emailing us.
If you don’t have access to email please drop us a note to one of the addresses below, giving your contact details (name, address and telephone number) together with your suggestions. Please write clearly.
27 Havelock Road - including anyone from Mulberry Lane
74 Outram Road
44 Elgin Road
29 Ashburton Road
Let us keep our streets and Addiscombe neighbourhood a safe and wholesome place to live in.
MAPS OF THE STREETS in ADDISCOMBE: MAP 1 MAP 2 ROAD ONE WAY SYSTEM
This meeting has taken place with well over 100 residents attending. Summary of the meeting can be found under the Meetings & Events page (or click HERE)
We are all aware of the impact the introduction of one way southbound traffic flow (in Addiscombe Court and Canning Roads) has had on Elgin and Havelock roads, with a lesser impact on Outram and Ashburton roads.
Overall traffic numbers on our roads in Addiscombe East are up an average of over 40%, with Elgin suffering an even higher increase at night - over 70%. A number of residents (lucky enough to be able to do so) have moved their bedrooms to the back of their homes as traffic noise was preventing them from sleeping.
The Council is supporting a move to get Community agreement on the best way to redress this recent imbalance of traffic along all our roads in Addiscombe caused by the introduction of one way routes in Addiscombe West.
The meeting scheduled on January 8th was preliminary meeting to discuss the process of resolving the resulting imbalance in traffic flow.
The Council (using money from our Ward budget) contracted a 'facilitator' to lead this complex process.
Keep an eye on our web pages for future information
Representatives from a number of roads will be selected to attend a second meeting where solutions will be proposed and ecommendations made. This will be very difficult, but it is essential that the North/Southbound traffic is shared fairly between all the roads in Addiscombe (including Addiscombe West), rather than just about all of it being diverted from Addiscombe West to Addiscombe East and dumped primarily on Elgin and Havelock roads.
Please note that traffic numbers are likely to increase dramatically with the WestField development and the re-opening of Blackhorse Lane.
As St James' Road bridge is likely to be closed for several years whilst improvements to the rail infrastructure commence, it seems probable that some of St James' Road traffic will move to use the Addiscombe Road/Lower Addiscombe Road as part of their new routes, but this will mean they have to use our residential roads in Addiscombe East as there are NO routes between these two A roads through Lebanon, Addiscombe Court or Canning roads.