Closures to reduce traffic and improve road safety in Stoke Newington approved
Closures to reduce traffic and improve road safety in the Walford Road area are set to be introduced in late September and October, following a consultation with local residents at the end of last year.
They are aimed at improving road safety by reducing the number of cars and east-west through-traffic in the Walford Road area, specifically Walford Road, Brighton Road, Beatty Road, and part of Nevill Road.
The measures will be introduced on an experimental basis for up to 18 months, which gives local residents and businesses the opportunity to have their say on how the closures work in practice. All feedback will be taken into account before any decision is made on whether or not to make the closures permanent.
In the Walford Road area, there were 33 recorded road traffic accidents resulting in personal injury in the three years to June 2019, and a further 20 crashes at the junctions of Walford, Brighton and Beatty roads with the A10.
The road closures will be introduced on Nevill Road between Clonbrock Road and Osterley Road, on Clonbrock Road at its junction with Nevill Road, and on Allen Road at its junction with Nevill Road.
In the interim, the Council is working to bring forward funding it secured last year from the Mayor of London’s Air Quality Fund to reduce polluting traffic on Stoke Newington Church Street and Albion Road, a key concern of respondents to the consultation. It has also submitted a bid to Transport for London’s Streetspace programme for funding to implement further measures to reduce traffic on Stoke Newington Church Street and if this is successful it will undertake further engagement with residents and businesses along the road.
It has funded green screens at William Patten School, is set to install green screens at Grasmere and St Mary’s schools during October half term, and has implemented School Streets, where roads are closed outside schools at opening and closing times, at William Patten and St Mary’s schools.
The Council is also currently developing a radical post-lockdown transport strategy, which will see closures/traffic filters introduced on over 20 roads across the borough to promote walking and cycling, including on Clissold Crescent, which will reduce traffic on parts of Albion Road.
A consultation carried out on the Walford Road proposals last year showed that 70.6% (3380) of respondents were against the proposals, with 28.2% (1350) in support.
However, 1059 of the surveys received are thought to be anomalies. Consultation analysis found that large numbers of responses came from the same IP addresses, with three IP addresses accounting for 404 submissions, and a further 50 IP addresses accounting for 655 responses.
If these results are filtered out, 62.2% (2321) of respondents were against the proposals, with 36.2% in support (1350).
While a majority of respondents were not in support of the proposals, the Council has balanced these views with issues with through-traffic and road safety on Walford Road, Brighton Road, Beatty Road, and Nevill Road, as well as the potential impact of proposed changes to the Stoke Newington gyratory, which would see traffic increase in the Walford Road area.
In taking this decision, council officers have considered the views of local residents alongside the high levels of through-traffic and number of accidents in what is a predominantly residential area.
We will continue to work with residents on measures to reduce polluting traffic on Church Street, Crossway and Albion Road, including through funding from the Mayor of London’s air quality fund, and our own work to implement green screens at all schools in the area and introduce School Streets to nearly all primary schools in the borough by September.
The Council is writing to all residents in the area to explain the next steps, and outline how they can have their say during the experimental traffic order period.
More information is available at: hackney.gov.uk/walford-road-area