Who else feels outraged about what councils have done to Wandsworth Bridge Rd and Streatham High Rd Post Reply

[LoveShoes]

Just that really.  Last Saturday I saw a headline re the once thriving Wandsworth Bridge Rd.  Those poor businesses!  It is shameful that they are totally unsupported and losing their livelihoods.  Over the years I’ve bought beds at Dreams, various pine pieces at the fab antiquey pine shops, perused and bought gorgeous tiles, fabric, lighting, fashion from so many brilliant independent businesses and dined at lots of those lovely restaurants.  The Sainsburies at Wandsworth Bridge is my husband’s fav.  We live in the Nightingale Triangle. Wandsworth Bridge was a short hop and skip away.  Not any more.  Who in their right mind is going to spend an hour plus plus trying to get there and then have trouble parking leaving aside the nightmare journey home.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13120057/No-wonder-retailers-London-road-favourite-haunt-Nigella-despair-draconian-Low-Traffic-Neighbourhood-schemes-DEVASTATED-thriving-street.html

And again, who else was just gobsmacked by the recent pics of Streatham High Rd totally grid locked with what seemed like every bus in London stuck in traffic.  An hour and a half plus to do a 20 min journey.  Those poor commuters, residents and businesses.   I understand that the word is that the Mayor has intervened but why has it taken so long and why hasn’t the Wandsworth Bridge Rd community been given the same opportunity?


I am sure that there will be a pile on from so many different quarters.  I won’t be responding.   But there HAS to be a better way than the situation we have now.

Rant over!
 

[muddyboots]

It’s because we are all meant to cycle or flap our arms and hope to fly where we need to go … Wandsworth are acting as if driving and parking is an illegal activity !

Roads are there to be made congested and to make up as many schemes as possible to fine people until they hopeful disappear…

Bus lanes are made to be empty off peak so that only half the road space is used and they can create as much congestion as possible.

They keep adding electric Charging point totally ignoring that the appetite for electric cars is much lower than anticipated as the technology is not on par with regular cars yet.

Now they are making loads of wide artery roads into 20mph …it will only get worse

[muddyboots]

And Wandsworth bridge road the local area is a minefield and so easy to get a ticket as it’s only once you enter the no traffic area that you see the sign so impossible to evade unless you have prior knowledge.
I had a PCN and managed to get it cancelled as the signage is appalling.
Not come back this way so not sure if it’s changed .

It is a shame as it’s a great road or was rather for interior design, fabulous lighting shop in particular.

[onthecommon]

There are 41.3 million vehicles registered to drive on uk roads (2023) according to RAC and based on uk Gov stats.  In 1990 there were less than 25 million (cannot find exact number), though there were 21 million cars.
Cars are on average a third bigger and heavier now than the 1990s.

That is the problem - not LTNs, not cycle lanes, not bus lanes - it is the sheer volume of traffic. If you drive, have 2 cars, drive kids to school or after school clubs, or have a choice but choose to drive you are a contributing to the problem.

It is estimated that two thirds of car journeys in London are less than 5km (3miles) with half of car journeys less than 3km(2 miles).  
Some people need to drive, most don’t need to in London.

So let’s all start blaming the real problem for traffic - we are all to blame and the only solution is for everyone to reduce their car usage.  Unfortunately most are too selfish so Councils and Governments will need to take action - you won’t like it but evidence suggests things will get worse if action not taken

[NVHusband]

The principle is correct but poorly executed.

We live BTC and I am sick of the number of cars cutting through the roads to get to their destination.

Over the last 10 years, it has got progressively worse. Just take a look at school rush hour. Most of the schools around here have small catchment area, so why are parents driving their kids to school?

The issue isn’t LTN… the main issue is entitled drivers. Cars pollute our roads, they cut through back streets and disregard the 20 mph making the roads less safe for pedestrians and cyclists.

Just take a look at the “Keep Clear” outside of Belleville Primary or Thomas Clapham (as one of many examples)… drivers are too entitled and think their trip is more important than anyone else.

Too many cars, too many entitled drivers making a misery for people living in London.

We need less cars driving less mileage. More walking, more cycling, more public transport.

[muddyboots]

The topic was not about entitled parents who park all over corners and yellow lines such as the infuriating Thomas’ parents …. It’s about councils ruining businesses and London in general with ridiculous 20 mph limits on artery roads for example.

It’s not illegal to drive and nobody needs to try to guilt trip people for choosing to drive their car, it’s the wrong way to go about it .

[muddyboots]

And LTN’s are mostly dispersing problems elsewhere.
At worst they cause serious issues, such as when ambulances couldn’t access roads in Tooting thank to idiots LTN’a being implements without proper practical planning.

Cycling as a form of regular transport is not practical for quite a large chunk of the population.

[chorister]

@ muddyboots - There is masses of evidence going back decades that providing more road capacity just generates more traffic.  With our cities increasingly choked by more and more larger and larger cars isn't worth at least trying to see whether the reverse might be true and reducing road capacity might increase the quality of life for all of us?  Of course there will be short terms issues and inconveniences as adjustments are made, but try  researching the Tragedy of the Commons to see if you think might not be worthwhile.

[onthecommon]

It’s interesting that the poster is complaining that instead of going to local supermarkets in Balham her husband preferred to drive to Chelsea……..her family is part of the problem.  When local shops close in Balham because people like you drive elsewhere you’ll probably blame a new zebra crossing in Chestnut Grove for slowing you down.

Taken from another website.
Every time a Low Traffic Neighbourhood is delivered, the following things happen:

Businesses that have been failing for years - check their accounts on Companies House - claim the LTN has ruined them in a matter of weeks.

Someone allegedly misses a funeral/birthday/appointment because they can’t rat run down your road.

Fake emergency service workers start calling Nick Ferrari to falsely claim the LTN is costing lives.

A video appears of a local fire crew ‘stuck’ behind an LTN filter they approved in advance. 

Someone complains their child - who they squirrelled into the school in the expensive catchment before buying a cheaper house out of catchment - has been made late for school by the LTN.

Some ossified local union branch Secretary or Branch Labour Party full of bricks and mortar millionaire pensioners passes a motion claiming ‘LTNs are anti-working class’, even though working class neighbourhoods have the fewest cars but the highest levels of pollution.

The local rag starts printing unevidenced sob stories from people who claim the LTN is stopping them from delivering chest freezers once a week to their housebound nan.

There’s a petition to the local Council falsely claiming LTNs are ‘creating crime hotspots’, even though the evidence is clear that they substantially reduce crime.

The craven local MP starts distancing themselves from the LTN only to take credit for it in a few years when they realise that their constituents do not want to live on rat runs.

It’s literally the same, every time.

[chorister]

Interesting reply, deliciously cynical - we have some friends who live on (rather than drive down as a rat run) Valley Road in the Streatham LTN who petitioned Lambeth Council in favour of it when there was a move to abolish or amend it (I’m not sure which) because it had improved their quality of life so much.

[muddyboots]

@Chorister,

I don’t need to research the tragedy of the commons as I studied it at university and well aware.
It’s not quite applicable here as the tragedy of the commons concept is when a resource is free and not owned by one person.
We pay for our Road use by taxes and the fines for any minor offence. There is also a barrier to entry as you need to have the finances to pay for a car, petrol, insurance , parking permits, MOTs etc

[gloriadaily]

It's because, in order to go where we need to go, we are all required to either bike or flap our arms. Driving and parking are being seen as unlawful activities in Wandsworth!
penalty shooters 2
The purpose of roads is to create traffic jams and devise as many strategies as possible to punish individuals until they ostensibly vanish.

Bus lanes are designed to remain completely vacant during off-peak hours, utilizing only half of the available space on the road and maximizing traffic jams.
 

[chorister]

@muddyboots

Well perhaps you were not paying attention, which I guess is understandable at university. The Tragedy of the Commons applies to a resource that is free at the point of use (ie has a marginal cost of zero), which for all practical purposes is the case for road users. It’s the same reason that the NHS, SEN provision in education and social care are in all crisis.

[It could be you one day]

Reading posts on this forum I sometimes think Nappy Valley residents do not travel across London very often, which would explain their self centred pronouncements on so many issues. Rather than boasting about foreign travel, to satisfy your thirst for adventure try day trips via public transport to areas four or five miles away. Eye opening both culturally and in terms of the reality of transport. I live in zone 2 at an address which is acknowledged by TFL as a transport as a black spot. It is 7minutes from the nearest bus stop, the only bus one service and 15 minutes from the closest tube. Cycling to nappy valley takes 50 minutes, public transport involving two buses and tube at least an hour and ten minutes, by car 50 minutes. Anyone with young children, packages or mobility issues only have one realistic option.
These local neighbourhood schemes merely displace traffic, not significantly eliminate it. Interestingly they also seem to move traffic away from more affluent areas.
The answer to why the number of cars on the road has risen so has the population, and more to the point this entitled person with a home in the country can attest to virtually no public transport beyond town centres.

[mummyhoney]

It's an absolute disgrace. And it always puzzles me why there is such outrage at people using streets other than the main roads to get somewhere. They are public streets and therefore not any different to main roads.  There are no rat runs. Just other ways to get where you are going. I drive a Mini and I do under 4000 miles a year - but those miles are precious to me and  I wont be giving them up. For anything. And if my road became an LTN - I'd move. I don't want to walk down deserted London streets late at night.