Letter from the Council about Churchfield Road
Dear Sir/Madam, Following my previous email, further meetings have taken place between Ealing Council colleagues and Acton Central Ward Councillors relating to Churchfield Road, W3. Here is a detailed response to a number of queries raised by local residents and businesses: Streetscape improvement worksThe Churchfield Road streetscape improvements between Alfred Road and Burlington Gardens have been designed to enhance and complement the village-style character of the area, improve road safety, make the footways safer and easier for pedestrians to navigate, improve cycle facilities, plant new trees, improve lighting and strengthen community spirit by making the area more suitable for community events and markets. Consultation on the proposals was carried out during February/March 2017. Leaflets including the proposed design were distributed to 2450 addresses both within and surrounding the scheme area. Face to face engagement was also carried out with local businesses which included a consultation meeting. Of the responses received, 92% were in favour of the scheme in general. All comments received were considered as part of the final design. The improvement works started in August 2017 and were programmed to take place over a 6-month period in order to minimise impact on pedestrian accessibility, parking and congestion. The first phases to the north of Churchfield Road footway was completed successfully in October, however the following phase of works to the footway outside 33-39 Churchfield Road revealed an unexpected issue regarding underground utility services. These were unforeseen as the statutory services plans used to design the scheme did not show this. A number of methods were followed when detailed plans were drawn up to check the location of services underground, this included undertaking trial holes in specific locations, however unfortunately when it came to works being undertaken discrepancies were revealed. The result of this has caused works to take longer than expected. There are currently development works taking place at the former Berrico shop at 57-59 Churchfield Road- once these are complete in May 2018 the footway and carriageway works will be completed. ParkingPrior to the streetscape works being implemented, the parking bays at Churchfield Road between Alfred Road and Burlington Gardens were dual use CPZ resident parking and pay and display (there was no 30-minute stop and shop facility here). In total there were 13 parking spaces and one loading bay on this section of road. The new streetscape layout involves the loss of three car parking spaces, however the scheme will bring significant benefits. These include moving the trees to new footway build-outs along with new benches and cycle stands. The footway build-outs will significantly improve the environment, pedestrian flow and ensure footways are DDA compliant. Feedback from local businesses highlighted an issue of permit holders parking in the dual use bays, for extended periods of time, restricting parking available for shoppers. In order to relieve this, Council officers have proposed a Traffic Management Order to remove resident permit holder parking from these bays. The completion of the statutory objection period for this Traffic Order was 15th January we have however been recording feedback up until now and all comments have been considered. No objections have been received so the resident permit holder parking will be shortly removed from this section of road. As you may also be aware, parking changes have also occurred recently following the K1 CPZ consultation. Local Councillors were petitioned by local residents to make changes to the zone as residents reported they were unable to park outside or near to their homes. The Acton Central Ward Forum funded a full consultation across the ward and, following a detailed public consultation, businesses, residents and interested parties were given 21 days to respond to the proposals by way of a statutory traffic order consultation. No business responded to the consultation or the statutory notice period. In order to alleviate the issues, Council officers have now:Agreed to implement 30-minutes free parking on the pay and display parking (users will be required to display a ticket for this free parking) on the section of Churchfield Road between Alfred Road and Burlington Gardens.Identified a number of potential visitors’ parking bays within what is now CPZ-K to create additional parking facilities. More information on these will be available in due course. The new parking arrangements will take approximately 6-weeks to implement (for signage and changes to the parking meters) therefore the new arrangements should be implemented by the week commencing 19th March. Appropriate signage will be installed to make the parking arrangements clear. With regards to disabled parking, as required by law, all pay and display bays are available to disabled blue badge holders with no time limit and to park for up to 3 hours on yellow lines. In addition to the statutory requirement, Ealing Council also allows blue badge holders to park in any available resident or stop and shop parking bays. Highways and transport officers will be undertaking a feasibility study to look at plans to introduce additional disabled parking as part of the wider strategy of improvements to Churchfield Road. More information on this will also be available in due course. Speed bumps/20mph zoneChurchfield Road is a designated 20mph zone. The speed bumps outside 55 Churchfield Road (Fishing Tackle shop) will be removed as part of the scheme however this area will be transformed to become a raised platform which is a proven technique to effectively slow drivers down. A Construction Stage 2 Safety Audit has been undertaken as part of the design of the scheme. A Construction Stage 3 Safety Audit will also be undertaken at the end of the works and any safety issue will be addressed. TreesIt is our intention to plant all trees shown on the plans, however occasionally due to unforeseen circumstances it is not possible to plant the trees in its proposed location. Trees will be planted once the works have been completed and in the next appropriate tree planting season. We realise there have been a number of disruptions linked to the delivery of the works and apologise for the inconvenience caused. The works are in progress and we are doing what we can to minimise any further disruptions. Please also note, as works are not complete, in some sections (in particular at the locations where trees will be planted) temporary infill treatment has been used- this is not the final finish. We are confident on completion of the scheme the environment will be much improved and valued within the community. Kind regards,Andrea Andrea Laffey | Economic Regeneration Project Manager | Ealing CouncilT: 020 8825 6312 | E: LaffeyA@ealing.gov.ukwww.ealing.gov.uk
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