What’s the problem?
In short, there is a large amount of through-traffic that cuts through the Estate instead of using the main periphery roads as it should do. This creates danger, noise and pollution on roads that were not designed for that volume of traffic. A driver is twice as likely to kill or seriously injure a child walking on residential streets than on main roads, and three times more likely to kill or seriously injure a child on a bicycle. It also creates a very unwelcoming environment for those shopping and dining in the area. The Council’s recently commissioned traffic survey shows the extent of the problem:
What’s the solution?
These problems can only really be resolved with an area-wide traffic reduction scheme. Invariably these involve closing a number of roads to motor traffic. It’s important that this is done as an area-wide scheme, to prevent simply moving a problem from one place to another.
The Council’s scheme
The Council proposed one such scheme in December 2020 as a low traffic neighbourhood for the Hyde Park Estate. On the whole it was a well-designed scheme, dealing very effectively with the problem. The Council chose not to proceed with it as, in their words, “there is not a consensus in support of the proposed scheme”. You can see residents’ responses on our LTN responses page.
The future
On the basis of the previous engagement as well as an extensive traffic study, the Council has acknowledged that “there is a problem with rat running through the Hyde Park Estate area”. We urge the Council to begin a conversation with the community to find out what a new set of proposals might look like. By involving a wide range of community members in such discussions it will be possible to gauge the level of support, as well as finding out what would and wouldn’t work for people.
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