Council to Introduce Trial Traffic Restrictions in Isleworth
Aiming to improve access by bike to West Middlesex Hospital
Hounslow Council contractors reallocating road space away from cars.
|
Hounslow Council have announced more details of what they are planning to create space for people to follow social distancing guidelines in town centres, and to get around the borough safely on foot and by bike.
Measures are to be taken to try to improve access by bike to West Middlesex hospital and reduce through traffic in residential neighbourhoods in Isleworth. This will include trial access restrictions on some local roads and cycle lane improvements on Twickenham Road. They say that it is vital that NHS staff in particular have access to their place of employment given ongoing restrictions on the use of public transport. Steps are also being taken to improve cycle parking at the hospital in anticipation of an increase in people using bikes to get there.
The Council says they are also exploring opportunities for 'pop up' cycle lanes across the borough, and particularly along the A315 as the route of Cycleway 9 and into Heathrow airport. They have held further meetings with TfL this week to discuss.
In its latest statement the council made no mention of trial closures at Occupation Lane and Green Dragon Lane in Brentford which they had previously said they were considering.
The permanent closure of Lionel Road South to through traffic is going to be progressed once the stadium works are completed.
Hounslow is being asked to submit proposals to the government to be considered for funding from a £250 million package to support walking and cycling. The Department of Transport wrote to Chief Executives of local authorities on 28 May to inform them that the first tranche of the funding, £45 million, will be released as soon as possible to allow councils to start work on closing roads to through traffic, widening pavements and building segregated cycle lanes.
The government requires councils to bring forward these measures ‘within weeks’ and has advised that councils do so using temporary or experimental traffic orders. These orders allow for schemes to be implemented on site promptly and feedback on them taken during the first six months following their introduction. The Council will then consider the feedback received before determining whether any of these measures should be made permanent in some form.
Councillor Hanif Khan, Cabinet Member for Transport at Hounslow Council said: “In line with government requirements the council is looking to move as quickly as possible to make the network as safe as possible for those trying to get around on foot and by bike. We’re thankful for the hundreds of comments we’ve received on our borough wide consultation which we are using to help prioritise some of our work to develop these trial changes– please keep them coming! Whilst the government’s requirements preclude widespread consultation ahead of trials commencing, please be assured that we’ll be collecting all the comments made on these proposals during the next few months which we will review carefully before we decide whether to make any of these measures permanent or not.”
The COVID-19 Transport Response – Hounslow’s Streetspace consultation is open until the 25 June and can be accessed here.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
June 5, 2020
