[quote="Goldhawk"]Does anyone have any info on the neighbourhood plan?

Are the council supposed to retain green spaces for community use?

Did the last (failed) application for the site include a bowling alley???[/quote]


I've started a new post on this topic with some more details. There is a lot of info on Wandsworth Council website.

Lets hope that the council does protect this green space and doesn't chase its housing targets at this particular location.

The developers are keen to report that it is not fit for a sporting/recreational site and that local residents prefer to go to the commons anyway and that over 60% of us have cars so can travel to other open spaces !!!! :roll:

The previous failed application included indoor bowling , trying to keep some element of sporting use along with the housing plans.

Does anyone have any info on the neighbourhood plan?

Are the council supposed to retain green spaces for community use?

Did the last (failed) application for the site include a bowling alley???

Are you aware that developers have recently applied to Wandsworth council to build 28 residential properties on the old Balham bowling green? The entrance and only access to this is from Chestnut Grove, opposite the school where the TK Maxx entrance is (a few meters up from Old Dairy Mews.)

https://planning.wandsworth.gov.uk/WAM/showCaseFile.do?appType=planning&appNumber=2018/1741

I have numerous objections to this; mainly that an extremely rare green sporting space be changed to residential use and lost forever to future generations. However if I stick to the topic of road safety on Chestnut Grove;

+ the access point to this development is on the busiest stretch of Chestnut Grove, at rush hour times cars line up from the High Road back to the second roundabout. This development will add to the heavy congestion.

+ access will add another risk to safety of the high footfall traffic in this area, with resident cars continually accessing at this highly congested point.

Should you wish to object to this development you can do so via the link above.

Application no. 2018/1741

[quote="atbattersea"][quote="Sarah McDermott"]…enforcement of speeding to be passed from the police to the Council for more consistent and rigorous enforcement[/quote]

The main problem here is that all of the local schools have a problem with traffic, on way or another - even if that's just double parking or parking on the zigzags outside schools. But no one really wants to do anything about it, other than the occasional police/warden presence a couple of days a year.[/quote]

you cannot police a flood. The solution lays in making a new separate exit or closing the sixth form and only using St Francis Xavier

[quote="Sarah McDermott"]…enforcement of speeding to be passed from the police to the Council for more consistent and rigorous enforcement[/quote]

The main problem here is that all of the local schools have a problem with traffic, on way or another - even if that's just double parking or parking on the zigzags outside schools. But no one really wants to do anything about it, other than the occasional police/warden presence a couple of days a year.

[quote="Goldhawk"]In general councils are removing railings as part of the shared spaces plan - gives car users a sense of peril and makes them slow down![/quote]

Utter nonsense! It just ends up with more pedestrians in the road and cars on pavements.

We've been doing this experiment in London now for about eight years, I'd like to see the stats that support this as a road safety improvement.

Here are the results of the Community Speedwatch organised by the Nightingale Conservative councillors:

28/03/2018 Chestnut Grove
Recorded – 59
Speeding – 7
Worst Offender – 30mph

21st Feb 2017 at Chestnut Grove.
45 vehicles were speed-gunned.
13 vehicles were being driven 25mph or over. The worst offender being recorded at 31mph.

We will be holding further Speedwatch sessions and are also pushing for enforcement of speeding to be passed from the police to the Council for more consistent and rigorous enforcement

How did the speed watch go? Anyone know?

Hi Sarah, it was 3 peas in a pod rather than me but my thoughts from driving past it regularly for 10 years are that:

1. the school should open it's other exits, such as the back gate on Boundaries and the original one further along Chestnut Grove so they are not all coming out of the same exit. Also, is there one on Ravenslea they could open?
2. give the kids road safety lessons because I've witnessed several incidents of crazy behaviour with out of control kids running on the road into traffic
3. a pedestrian crossing at the corner of Chestnut and Boundaries

The speed of the traffic on Chestnut isn't the issue - I don't think I've ever done over 10 mph on that stretch.

'The Parsley Song' - We will go ahead with the Speedwatch on 28 March as we have to compete for sessions with other wards and don't want to let this one go. But your point is well made and we will organise another one at another time too. The police will be monitoring speed but we will also be able to collect evidence of traffic and pedestrian flow - all useful.

[quote="Sarah McDermott"]Yes, Nightingale councillors have organised a Community Speedwatch with PC Howe (who is in charge of Speedwatch across the borough) for Wednesday 28 March 3-4.30pm. We have to compete for dates - but Nightingale does pretty well on getting in first for many dates.

We are on the case with finding out the best solution for school pupils and residents along the stretch of Chestnut Grove to the tube. I will be raising it at the Balham Town Centre Partnership meeting this evening, I have met the Principle of Chestnut Grove to discuss road safety and Cllr Field has been working with highways officers to tackle things such as ensuring speed markings and roundabouts are clearly painted, drains unblocked so people do not have to step into the road and carriageway potholes and dips mended.

As some of you have commented, it is a narrow stretch of road near a busy tube station and near one of the bridges under the railway line in Boundaries Road so will inevitably have a lot of foot-traffic and vehicle traffic. Let's see if we can make it as safe as possible for all users.[/quote]

Sarah
Thanks for your attention to this concern. I have children at another local school and have been walking past Chestnut Grove school at the start and end of the school day for many years now. It has undoubtedly become more dangerous since the recent redevelopment changed the flow of pedestrian pupils. There simply is not enough space on the pavement for the number of people trying to use it. I do not think either pupils or drivers are to blame - the facility and infrastructure is simply not fit for purpose and I am disappointed but not surprised to hear there have been incidents.

It is definitely worthwhile running a speedwatch but NOT on 28th March. The impact of private school holidays on traffic along Boundaries Road and Chestnut Grove is HUGE. Please take my word for it as someone who walks and drives those roads every day. It would be a waste of time and resources to run the check on a day that is not representative of the traffic that uses the streets for the majority of Chestnut Grove's term time. Are you able to feed that back to PC Howe?

Car speed is really not the only culprit here though - volume of traffic (cars and pedestrian), numbers of parked cars obscuring views and causing bottlenecks which people then speed through and the location of the main school entrance/exit are all contributing factors. If those can all be addressed in an integrated way considering the wider compounding factors in the area then the situation and safety for all will be vastly improved.

He said incidents, not accidents. Can someone explain what the 4 incidents are that have started this petition? Asking as someone who drives past the school regularly, so have a few thoughts on the topic.

Easy, tiger!

There is a difference between driving dangerously and driving 1mph above the speed limit. However, it is a difference our legislators must have forgotten about, because the current rules allow zero tolerance: you could in theory be fined a % of your weekly earnings simply for going 1mph above the limit. The reason the rest of the civilised world has some tolerance is because it is common sense that spending more time looking at the speedometer than at the road, to check whether you are doing 18 or 21mph, is counterproductive and actually more dangerous! Oh, and before the holier-than-thou brigade starts yapping that drivers should control their speed etc etc: 1) keeping a constant speed is harder the lower the speed 2) with non-digital speedometers it's not straightforward to be 100% sure whether you're doing 19 or 21 (unless you want to spend more time looking at the speedometer than at the road) 3) some speedometers are daftly designed: they're positioned so low that you must take your eyes off the road.

So, yes, let's be super harsh with the idiots who drive dangerously, but let's also be realistic and accept that 1mph above the limit is not criminal behaviour!

Easy, tiger!

There is a difference between driving dangerously and driving 1mph above the speed limit. However, it is a difference our legislators must have forgotten about, because the current rules allow zero tolerance: you could in theory be fined a % of your weekly earnings simply for going 1mph above the limit. The reason the rest of the civilised world has some tolerance is because it is common sense that spending more time looking at the speedometer than at the road, to check whether you are doing 18 or 21mph, is counterproductive and actually more dangerous! Oh, and before the holier-than-thou brigade starts yapping that drivers should control their speed etc etc: 1) keeping a constant speed is harder the lower the speed 2) with non-digital speedometers it's not straightforward to be 100% sure whether you're doing 19 or 21 (unless you want to spend more time looking at the speedometer than at the road) 3) some speedometers are daftly designed: they're positioned so low that you must take your eyes off the road.

So, yes, let's be super harsh with the idiots who drive dangerously, but let's also be realistic and accept that 1mph above the limit is not criminal behaviour!

Yes, Nightingale councillors have organised a Community Speedwatch with PC Howe (who is in charge of Speedwatch across the borough) for Wednesday 28 March 3-4.30pm. We have to compete for dates - but Nightingale does pretty well on getting in first for many dates.

We are on the case with finding out the best solution for school pupils and residents along the stretch of Chestnut Grove to the tube. I will be raising it at the Balham Town Centre Partnership meeting this evening, I have met the Principle of Chestnut Grove to discuss road safety and Cllr Field has been working with highways officers to tackle things such as ensuring speed markings and roundabouts are clearly painted, drains unblocked so people do not have to step into the road and carriageway potholes and dips mended.

As some of you have commented, it is a narrow stretch of road near a busy tube station and near one of the bridges under the railway line in Boundaries Road so will inevitably have a lot of foot-traffic and vehicle traffic. Let's see if we can make it as safe as possible for all users.