The council’s Strategic Planning and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee met on 4 November and included an update on the council’s “Transport Action Plan”, which discussed the recently suspended Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs).

In summary:

The Oakmead Road barrier will be reinstated.

In future there will be a full public consultation and council committee discussion prior to the introduction of a major traffic management scheme.

The Council recognises that a more incremental approach in delivering the LTN trials in and around the A24 and A214 may have helped.

The consultation responses to the Tooting Commons LTN are set out in this table:

The data collected in the Tooting Commons LTN are set out in this table (click to view full size):

Paragraphs 43 to 53 of the paper go into more detail about the results of the Tooting Commons LTN trial.

The council appears to have adopted a new approach to certain “essential local distributor roads”, and provides a non-exhaustive list that includes Elmbourne Road. The upshot is that:

“it may not be possible to reduce the traffic volume to a level below 300vph criteria
unless draconian measures can be implemented and are broadly supported by
adjacent residential roads”

However, the council is to continue with the traffic calming measures on Elmbourne Road and Hillbury Road until fully implemented and monitored for a period 12 months after completion as per standard practice.

The reports presented at the meeting can be downloaded here: https://democracy.wandsworth.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=678&MId=6608

The Transport Action Plan was item 3 on the agenda, Paper No. 20.337.

Schools will shortly be welcoming students back, and TfL are encouraging active modes of transport to get there. Full details are available in TfL’s press release. With the Tooting Commons LTN now in place, it’s never been easier or safer to walk, cycle or scoot, so why not give it a go!

Traffic counting strips look like this but the two black rubber tubes are usually much closer together:

Depending on the model used, traffic counting strips can measure the volume of vehicles on the road, the classification of the vehicle (car, truck, moped, etc), the gap between each vehicle, and the speed and direction the vehicle is travelling.

The council recently laid traffic counting strips in the following roads to collect data before the LTN was put in:

• Elmbourne Road
• Louisville Road
• Drakefield Road
• Streathbourne Road
• Huron Road
• Manville Road
• Bushnell Road
• Bedford Hill
• Garrads Road
• Elmfield Road
• Carminia Rd
• Dr Johnson Avenue
• Ritherdon Road

The council will be laying traffic counting strips in the same places two more times each, to collect data with the LTN in place. It will then be possible to see the “before” and “after” position, and measure the overall effect of the LTN.

We have asked the council to publish the data it collects so anyone who is curious can view it, and they have agreed to this.

The lido reopened on Wednesday just gone and things seem to be going well. To enter, you need to pre-book a slot online. All the details on how to do that are at the Places Leisure Tooting Bec Lido website. The Places Leisure website also has general reopening information. A member of staff at the gates is checking people in for their slot.

You can book up to 8 days in advance for 1 hour at a time, of which 45 minutes is for swimming and 15 minutes is for changing before and after. You can only do widths and not lengths. There are a maximum of 60 people in the pool at any one time.

The temperature of the water is currently 23 degrees – lovely!

We have received many emails about the new LTNs asking “Why?”, and this image very neatly explains the reason.

The red and white plastic barriers have this morning been replaced with wooden planters, and the planters have been bolted to the road so they can’t be moved.

We are aware that the council’s workers, who have been replacing the red and white plastic barriers all week after they were repeatedly moved, have received some abuse from some drivers. No one, under any circumstances, has a right to be rude to people doing their job. Everyone is entitled to make their voice heard and everyone is entitled to their opinion but no one is entitled to hurl abuse. We condemn such behaviour.

Hot on the heels of the Tooting Commons LTN are these three in and around Bedford ward:

The full details are set out in this leaflet that the council has been delivering over the last couple of days to properties in the areas concerned. The leaflet is a 25MB pdf so may take some time to download and/or open.

We have been told by the council that the red and white plastic barriers that are currently being used to implement the LTN will soon be replaced by planters. Hopefully these will be too heavy for any one person to lift, so they won’t keep getting moved like the current lot.

We hope everyone’s managing to keep cool in this weather!

Community RoadWatch (ie a police officer with a high-tech mobile speedgun) is coming to the following roads in Tooting:

• Avoca Road on 3 November 2020 from 9:00 – 9:45am
• Montana Road on 9 November 2020 from 9:00 – 9:45am

Adults and children are welcome to have a go on the speedgun, so come along to try it out.

The speedgun measures how fast cars and motorbikes are travelling, and if any are recorded doing more than 24mph (ie more than 20% over the 20mph speed limit) then they are sent a letter by the police reminding them to slow down. Repeat offenders (those caught during previous Community RoadWatch events) can have points put on their licence and/or fines.

Drive safe!

We’ve been asked a few times what this does and it’s easiest to explain with a diagram (see the incredibly professional drawing below). It allows traffic to go from Manville Road to the southern half of Elmbourne Road both ways (see orange arrow) and also allows traffic to go from Dr Johnson Avenue/Hillbury Road to the northern half of Elmbourne Road both ways (see purple arrow). The diverter is placed diagonally across the junction (see green line). There is a small space large enough for bicycles on either side of the diverter so that cyclists can go round it.