21
Sep
2016
25

Road closure – survey results

Many local people have commented on traffic on Chatsworth Road both on Sundays and other days of the week. The feeling is that traffic drives too fast and this makes it less enjoyable to spend time on the street. There has also been much discussion about getting the market section of the road closed on a Sunday.

Closing the road (and any other changes) involves lots of people from TfL and the council to the hospital, local residents and businesses. To help us understand feelings locally about traffic and road closure of Chats we ran a short survey across social media (Facebook, Twitter, website and an e-newsletter) from 26 April to 31 May. It was great to get more than 600 responses with many people raising concerns about traffic every day of the week.

Here’s some of the highlights or you can download the report below.

  • 639 responses – 88% of respondents live in E5 or E9, the areas surrounding the market
  • 47 comments on Facebook (which are publicly available and viewed by anyone on our Facebook page)
  • Download the summary

Responses to closing the road

  • 85.4% of respondents want to see the road closed on market days (between Dunlace and Rushmore Roads)
  • 14.6% of respondents do not want the road closed on market day

Traffic calming

  • Regardless of whether the road is closed or not 85.9% would like to see traffic calming measures introduced on market days – more than half (55.7%) would like to see measures introduced every day of the week

Traffic calming needed

Where respondents lived

  • 11.9% of respondents were outside E5 and E9

Response by postcodeComments in favour of calming or closure included:

  • Enforce 20mph
  • Anything to enhance safety on market days would be a benefit. Some drivers do not slow, despite increased difficulty in crossing safely, due to loss of clear sight, etc. Market goers may also not be paying attention in the festive atmosphere of market day
  • I believe it is extremely important to bring in extra calming measures, the traffic on Chatsworth road and Brooksby’s Walk is too fast and very dangerous
  • A reduction in traffic and certainly slower traffic would be wonderful, there are already speed bumps, but flashing slow signs or other measures would help to make the road feel safer
  • Chatsworth Road could be dramatically improved through the reduction of traffic volume and speed. Like all high streets, it should be first and foremost and place for pedestrians. This is good for businesses, shoppers, residents, schools, churches, cyclists, children etc etc. Important to maintain access for disabled, elderly etc

What happens next

We will be presenting the full survey results to the council to get these measures on the agenda for formal consultation. We don’t know how long that will take but will update you when we have more information.

If you don’t want traffic calming or the road to be closed then there is no need to worry. If the council can run a full consultation on this it will go to many people in the area to have a say. Only once the results are in will a decision be made and this all takes time.

If you want to help get involved in keeping this on the (council) agenda, please contact us.