Congestion and expansion

The latest piece of community action with which I have been involved is a petition opposing the expansion of a local school unless issues of traffic congestion around the school are resolved as part of the expansion process. Last Monday I presented a petition of local residents to the Area 5 Committee and made the following presentation:

"I wish to present a petition from residents of Royal Close, Regent Gardens and Farnham Road opposing the planned expansion of Farnham Green School unless the existing problem of traffic congestion in these three roads at School dropping off and picking up times is resolved as part of the expansion process.

The current level of traffic congestion at school dropping off and picking up times is dangerous for children and residents alike and will be made much worse by expansion. The situation is that Farnham Green School has only one minor access road. At School dropping off and picking up times cars are parked both along one side of Royal Close and Regent Gardens and half on the pavement, half on the road on the other. This leaves only a narrow central lane through which cars are able to move. As a result, the roads become gridlocked and access to and from the estate is severely curtailed. In order that traffic flows at a minimal level, cars will park on double yellow lines and resident’s driveways. The number of cars on pavements also forces parents/carers and children into the road in order to be able to reach the School.

When the traffic flow is only possible in one direction (usually exiting the estate) it is not possible to vehicles to access the estate for a considerable period of time. Were there to be an incident either on the estate or at the School it would be extremely difficult, and at times impossible, for an emergency vehicle to access the estate or School.

The volume of traffic movements in a confined space, the potential for road rage to which this volume of traffic leads, and, most importantly, the lack of access for emergency vehicles to the school, let alone elsewhere on the estate, are all causes of real and immediate concern for residents. These issues will all be exacerbated by expansion unless the problem of traffic congestion is solved by new initiatives.

This issue is well known to the School and Council alike. The School regularly and generally unsuccessfully try to encourage parents to walk or cycle to the School. The Council have in the last year introduced double yellow lines on parts of the road but because these are not policed they are ignored by car users at School dropping off and picking up times.

Despite the School and Council being well aware of this issue, it is our understanding that the plans and expansion budget originally presented to Governors on which they made their decision in favour of expansion did not address the issue of traffic congestion or cost any solutions to the issue.

We understand that the issue of congestion will be considered through consultation and the planning process at a later stage in the development. Our problem with this approach is firstly that a budget for expansion has already been set without consideration of the issue or the costs involved in resolving it and secondly that local authority budgets for 2010 and beyond are anticipated to be exceptionally tight, therefore we question where the additional money needed in order to address this essential issue will come from. From our perspective, the Council’s planning process seems to militate against adequate addressing of an issue that, without being addressed, has the potential to compromise the expansion plans.

We are also concerned about the minimal level of consultation with local residents to date in the planning process. Local residents were not consulted in the first phase of consultation and, in the current second phase, the only information provided to residents is one A4 notice on one of the School gates with the School located in part of the estate to which residents have no reason to go.
I am sure that Council staff will have followed the correct procedures for the planning process but in doing so they appear to have done the absolute minimum necessary and not to have proactively ensured resident’s awareness of the issue. This, it seems to me, is unacceptable from a Council which claims to value community consultation.

We are not opposed to expansion of Farnham Green per se (we recognise the very real issues that the Council are seeking to address through expansion) but we are opposed to expansion without solving the issue of traffic congestion on the estate. We are concerned that, because a budget has been set and costed plans drawn up without any discussion of the issue of traffic congestion and because consultation with residents has to date been minimal in the extreme, that the Council intends driving the expansion plans through without adequately resolving the congestion issues.

I would therefore be grateful for an assurance that this is not the case, a statement of how the issue of traffic congestion in these roads is to be considered, and an indication of where additional funds for solutions may be found."

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Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Racing In The Street.