THE ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA HIGHWAYS & TRAFFIC COMMITTEE - 13 JUNE 2000 REPORT BY THE DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTATION AND HIGHWAYS PRIORITY (RED) ROUTE - A3220 EARL’S COURT ONE-WAY SYSTEM REVIEW OF RED ROUTE CONTROLS The A3220 Earl’s Court one-way system (ECOWS) forms part of the Priority (Red) Route Network. In August 1998 the Red Route no stopping and loading controls were introduced along this section by Experimental Traffic Management Orders. These Orders will expire on the 6 August 2000. As a result the Committee must now consider whether the provisions of the Experimental Orders should be made permanent. The Committee is to consider the objections received to making the Orders permanent. These are addressed in this report. The Committee are not considering the principle of Red Routes. The question is whether in the light of their operation “on the ground” there is any reason, such as wholly unforeseen effects, why these particular Experimental Orders should not be made permanent. This report also considers the decision that the Committee must make as to whether or not to hold a public inquiry in order to gain further information before making the Experimental Orders permanent. Some of the objectors have requested that a public inquiry be held. This report also considers what amendments to the details of the controls should now be promoted in the light of monitoring that has taken place since their introduction. Some of the objections raise issues which do not relate to the Experimental Orders including the principle of Red Routes and the procedures the Council has adopted to enable their introduction. Whilst these issues do not form part of the Committee’s decision on whether or not to make the Experimental Orders permanent, they are considered in this report so as to ensure that the Committee are aware of the issues raised. (Holland, Abingdon, Earl’s Court, Redcliffe, North Stanley and South Stanley Wards) FOR DECISION 1. BACKGROUND 1.1 The A3220 Earl’s Court one-way system forms part of the Priority (Red) Route network between Holland Park Roundabout and Battersea Bridge and was designated by the Secretary of State for Transport in 1992. In August 1998, red route no stopping and loading controls were introduced under Experimental Traffic Orders. 1.2 The Experimental Orders are part of several elements of the Red Route Local Plan which have been approved by the Traffic Director for London and relate specifically to the no stopping and loading restrictions along the Red Route. That is for instance the red lines and the marking out of parts of the road for residents’ parking or for loading bays. The Orders would normally remain in force for a maximum period of 18 months enabling the effectiveness of the restrictions to be reviewed and for any subsequent modifications to be made prior to making the Orders permanent. 1.3 In addition to the Experimental Orders, there are many other measures included in the Priority (Red) Route Local Plan yet to be implemented. These include new pedestrian facilities at signalised junctions, entry treatments and measures for cyclists and this report provides an update on the programme for implementing the remaining elements of the Local Plan. 2. THE EXPERIMENTAL TRAFFIC ORDERS 2.1 On 14 August 1998, Experimental Traffic Orders were made to enable the Red Route controls to be implemented. A notice confirming that the Orders had been made was published in the London Gazette and the Kensington and Chelsea Times and included a statement that the Council will be considering making the provisions of the Orders permanent after a review period of at least six months. Persons wishing to object to the proposal were instructed to send a statement of objection in writing to the Director of Transportation and Highways. 2.2 Copies of the Experimental Traffic Orders, the relevant plans, together with the statement of reasons for making the Orders and copies of existing Traffic Orders which were to be suspended as a result of the Experimental Orders were made available for public inspection at the Local Studies desk in the Central Library and the Planning Information Office in the Town Hall and in Chelsea Town Hall. 2.3 On 8 October 1998, just before the Red Route controls were to be implemented, the Council was forced to suspend the work by an interim injunction granted by the High Court against the Council and the Traffic Director for London following the commencement of proceedings by the Anti- Red Route Campaign (ARRC). The ARRC objected to the principle of making the Earl’s Court one-way system a Red Route and claimed that the Council had unlawfully made the Experimental Orders by failing to consider the principle of whether this section should be a Red Route. 2.4 At the full hearing of ARRC’s application on 31 March 1999, the application was rejected by the High Court with the key points being: 2 i. The Council would have acted illegally if it had not continued its involvement with the implementation of Red Routes. ii. The Red Routes are not experimental, they were designated by the Secretary of State in 1992, but the use of Experimental Traffic Orders to introduce the controls is an appropriate mechanism to enable changes to be made if required. 2.5 The Red Route controls were subsequently implemented in Summer 1999 but as the Experimental Traffic Orders were suspended during the period of the High Court Injunction, the Orders are now due to expire on 6 August 2000. 3. CONSULTATION ON RED ROUTE CONTROLS 3.1 A consultation exercise was carried out with local residents and businesses in January 2000 as part of the review process for the Red Route controls put in place by these Orders. The consultation was not a statutory duty, but it was felt would be helpful to solicit comments and suggestions. The consultation document was designed to seek the views of the local community on the effectiveness of the controls and to identify any specific areas where there was a local consensus for changing a particular restriction. The consultation document was distributed to all frontagers along the A3220 Earl’s Court one- way system and invited local residents and businesses to suggest ways in which the Red Route controls could be modified to assist them. 3.2 The consultation document made clear that the Council was not empowered to remove the Earl’s Court one-way system from the Red Route network but could influence the types and details of the controls ultimately included. The document also explained that the consultation related only to the Red Route controls and not the other Red Route measures such as new crossings etc. which were yet to be implemented. 3.3 A total of 6793 consultation documents were delivered to the area of which 211 (3%) questionnaires were returned, containing a total of 322 separate comments. The majority of the comments received (179) related directly to the Red Route controls, however, there were also 143 comments on issues not related to the Red Route controls. A copy of the consultation documents and a breakdown of the responses are included in Appendix A. 3.4 In preparing the report, officers have sought to provide a fair analysis of the points raised in each response and set out the response to it. However a full copy of each representation and other correspondence together with, where appropriate, a full copy of the reply is in the Members’ room. Officers can also supply further full copies of these documents on request. 3.5 Comments have also been received from the police and the traffic wardens who enforce the restrictions. The majority of these relate to missing signs or incomplete road markings, which caused problems when enforcing specific restrictions. 3 4. REVIEW OF RED ROUTE CONTROLS 4.1 The Red Route controls have now been in place for 9 months and based on regular observation by both council officers and the consultant employed to manage the implementation of the scheme, the red line controls and the loading boxes are generally working well. Only minor changes will be required to address specific issues outside of individual frontagers, from those originally designed by the Council and approved by the Traffic Director for London. Officers have examined the effect of the controls by regularly visiting the route to observe traffic, operation of junctions, parking activities and loading and unloading. These visits were undertaken both during peak and off- peak periods on different days of the week. Traffic surveys have been carried out and a detailed analysis of personal injury accidents, which occurred since the loading and stopping restrictions became operational, is discussed later in the report. 4.2 Minor changes are to be expected as parking controls regularly need to be adapted to cope with changing circumstances. However, no fundamental or unforeseen problems have been identified with the operation of the controls and it is recommended the Experimental Orders should be made permanent. It must be noted that the Council will continue to monitor the new restrictions as it does throughout the remainder of the Borough and also to meet the requirements of the Road Traffic Act 1991. Consideration of Objections relating to the working of the Controls introduced by the Experimental Orders. 4.3 The most popular comment relating to the actual Red Route controls were requests for relaxing the existing restrictions to provide more parking and loading facilities on the Red Route (40%). These requests were mainly raised by residents of Earl’s Court Road, Edith Grove, Holland Road and Redcliffe Gardens.