A406 North Circular Road: Golders Green RoadA24 with Epsom Brent Road Street – Cycle and Bridge safety Lane to Goldersimprovements Green Road Proposed improvements to cycle facilities along A24 Proposed pedestrian and cyclist improvement works Epsom Road between Central Road and Lower ConsultationMorden LaneReport September 2016 March 2016 C ontents 1 Executive summary .......................................................................................... 1 2 Background....................................................................................................... 2 3 The consultation ............................................................................................... 3 4 Overview of consultation responses ................................................................. 5 5 Responses from statutory bodies and other stakeholders ................................ 9 6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 10 Appendix A - Copy of consultation letter………………………………………………………… 11 Appendix B – Letter distribution area ........................................................................ 15 Appendix C – List of stakeholders consulted ............................................................ 15 Appendix D - A list of views and suggestions made during the consultation………..17 Appendix E – Response to issues raised ................................................................ 19 1 Executive summary We recently consulted on proposed improvements for pedestrians and cyclists along the A406 North Circular from Bridge Lane to Golders Green Road and at the A406 junction with Golders Green Road and Brent Street. The proposals included a new shared pedestrian/cyclist ‘toucan’ crossing and new and upgraded sections of shared use footway, as well as a new retaining wall. The consultation aimed to provide an opportunity for people to give us feedback about the proposals and enable us to understand local opinions. Results of consultation We received 87 responses to the consultation. In the consultation we asked two main questions: 1. Do you support the proposed new toucan crossing on the A406 North Circular westbound carriageway? 61% of respondents supported the scheme, 18% opposed, 10% partially supportive, 2% were not sure, 8% did not answer the question 2. Do you support the shared use proposals from Bridge Lane to Golders Green Road and the proposed new retaining wall south of Bridge Lane? 51% of respondents supported the scheme, 21% opposed, 11% partially supportive, 6% were not sure, 2% had no opinion and 9% did not answer the question The main issues raised included safety concerns of pedestrian/cyclists crossing the A406, conflict between pedestrians and cyclists on shared use areas, and increased traffic on the A406. Next steps Following analysis of the consultation, we have decided go ahead with the scheme. We anticipate that implementation will begin in August 2017. This consultation report summarises the consultation exercise and responses received. 1 2 Background We proposed improvements for pedestrians and cyclists along the A406 North Circular from Bridge Lane to Golders Green Road and at the A406 junction with Golders Green Road and Brent Street. The proposals included converting some sections of footway to shared use for pedestrian and cyclists, and a new staggered shared pedestrian/cycle ‘toucan’ crossing on the westbound carriageway, adjacent to the Woodlands retaining wall. The proposals for the crossing were in response to safety concerns that pedestrians are crossing the A406 independently and using the central reservation as a waiting area, rather than using the pedestrian footbridge located at the junction. The existing pedestrian footbridge will remain as a secondary crossing point for pedestrians and dismounted cyclists to use. We proposed the following: • A new ‘toucan’ crossing for pedestrians and cyclists on the A406 North Circular westbound carriageway, adjacent to A406 Woodlands retaining wall. This would involve widening the central reservation by 4 metres to accommodate the crossing, central waiting area and guard railing, which in turn would require minor widening of the carriageway into the footway on the north west corner of the junction • New shared use footway for pedestrian and cyclists at the A406 junction with Golders Green Road and Brent Street. This would involve resurfacing the footways on three of the four corners of the junction to ensure surface consistency; we would also resurface the footway north of the junction to link to our current footway works at the Woodlands retaining wall. Signage and tactile paving would be used • Improve the shared use footway facilities from south of Bridge Lane to link to existing shared use facilities north of Courtleigh Gardens. This would involve resurfacing the footway to ensure surface consistency and adding new signage • Build a retaining wall to enable widening of the footway into the grass verge embankment just south of Bridge Lane • Widen the existing un-signalised crossing located across Golders Green Road to 3.2 metres to enhance facilities for the north/south movement • Introduce Advanced Stop Lines for cyclists on the Brent Street and Golders Green Road approaches 2 2.1 Location The map below shows the extent of the scheme Extent of the scheme Digital Map Data (c) Collins Bartholomew Ltd (2016) 3 The consultation The consultation ran between 24 May and 1 July 2016 and was designed to enable us to understand local opinions about the proposals. The consultation enabled us to: • Raise general awareness of the scheme with local residents, stakeholders and the public • Explain the proposed changes • Provide the opportunity for people to contact us with their feedback about the proposals The potential outcomes of the consultation were: • We decide the consultation raises no issues that should prevent us from proceeding with the scheme as originally planned • We modify the scheme in response to issues raised in consultation 3 • We abandon the scheme as a result of issues raised in the consultation The objectives of the consultation were: • To give stakeholders and the public easily-understandable information about the proposals and allow them to respond • To understand the level of support or opposition for the change • To understand any issues that might affect the proposal of which we were not previously aware • To understand concerns and objections • To allow respondents to make suggestions 3.1 Who we consulted The public consultation intended to seek the views of local residents and businesses close to the A406 North Circular Road junction with Golders Green Road and Brent Street, and Golders Green Road to Bridge Lane. Please see Appendix B for a map of the local area we consulted. We also consulted stakeholders including The Metropolitan Police, Members of Parliament, Assembly Members and local interest groups. A list of the stakeholders we consulted is shown in Appendix C and a summary of their responses is given in Section 5. 3.2 Consultation material, distribution and publicity We sent a letter and map explaining the proposed scheme to 1,979 local households and businesses. A copy of this letter and map is shown in Appendix A. The consultation material asked two questions regarding the proposal: 1. Do you support the proposed new toucan crossing on the A406 North Circular westbound carriageway? Yes / Partially / Not sure / No opinion / No 2. Do you support the shared use proposals from Bridge Lane to Golders Green Road and the proposed new retaining wall south of Bridge Lane? Yes / Partially / Not sure / No opinion / No 3. Do you have any further comments? We invited people to respond to the consultation using the TfL website https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/roads/a406-golders-green-road-brent-street-bridge- lane or by writing to us at FREEPOST TFL CONSULTATIONS or by emailing us at [email protected] 3.3 Pre-consultation We contacted the London Borough of Barnet before the consultation period started to inform them of our proposals. We asked them for their comments regarding our consultation area as well as which local community groups and resident associations they recommend we should consult. 4 4 Overview of consultation responses A total of 87 consultation responses were received, 75 were submitted online and 12 by post or email (see figure 1 below). Figure 1 In the consultation we asked two questions to see how much support there was for our proposals. Figures 2 and 3 below show the questions we asked and the number of people who answered yes, partially, those who were not sure, had no opinion, those who answered no and those who did not answer the question. Figure 2 5 Figure 3 We asked respondents how they heard about the consultation. The responses are shown in figures 4 and 5 below. Figure 4 6 Figure 5 We also asked respondents what they thought of the quality of the consultation, for example, the information we have provided, any printed material you have received, any maps or plans, the website and questionnaire etc. Figure 6 below shows the responses received. Figure 6 7 Additional comments Respondents were given the opportunity to provide further comments about our proposal. Of the 87 responses received, 73 provided comments. Figure 7 below shows the top 10 issues that were raised during the consultation. A complete list of views and suggestions made during the consultation can be found in Appendix D and our full response to issues