London Overground extension to Barking Riverside Spring 2015 public consultation report London Overground extension to Barking Riverside Spring 2015 public consultation report Published September 2015 2 Contents 1 Executive Summary........................................................................................................ 4 2 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 8 3 Background to the scheme ........................................................................................... 10 4 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 11 5 Overview of consultation responses ............................................................................. 14 6 Analysis of consultation responses .............................................................................. 16 7 Responses from stakeholders ...................................................................................... 29 8 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 35 9 Next steps .................................................................................................................... 35 Appendix A1 – Comments raised for Question 9 ................................................................ 36 Appendix A2 – Comments raised for Question 10 .............................................................. 38 Appendix A3 – Comments raised for Question 11 .............................................................. 40 Appendix A4 – Comments raised for Question 12 .............................................................. 43 Appendix B – Copy of the consultation letter ...................................................................... 44 Appendix C – Letter distribution area .................................................................................. 45 Appendix D – 19 June letter to Choats Road (IG11 0X_) ................................................... 46 Appendix E – Letter to Stakeholders ................................................................................... 47 Appendix F – Email to Stakeholders ................................................................................... 48 Appendix G – List of stakeholders consulted ...................................................................... 49 Appendix H – Copy of the consultation leaflet..................................................................... 53 Appendix I – Public events .................................................................................................. 60 Appendix J – Message to Oyster users .............................................................................. 61 Appendix K – Press advert.................................................................................................. 62 Appendix L – Press release ................................................................................................ 63 Appendix M - Response to questions ................................................................................. 64 3 1 Executive Summary 1.1 In spring 2015 Transport for London (TfL) conducted a seven week public consultation on the proposal to extend the London Overground Gospel Oak to Barking line from Barking to the Barking Riverside development. The consultation ran from 11 May 2015 to 28 June 2015. 1.2 This was a second round of consultation on the proposed extension. A high level consultation on the principle of the scheme was undertaken in the autumn of 2014, 90% of respondents to which said they supported the scheme in principle1. 1.3 The spring 2015 consultation asked again for views on the principle of an extension and for comments on two possible route options – alignment A and alignment B. Information about the proposals was made available online and included supporting information in the form of factsheets and two reports: a transport options summary and a route option assessment.2 The reports explained what other options had been investigated and how TfL had arrived at the two proposed route options for a London Overground extension. The proposals could also be viewed and commented upon at a number of consultation events, including roadshow events and meetings with residents associations. 1.4 Consultees were invited to give their views either by filling in an online questionnaire or by responding via post or email. Paper copies of the consultation were available on request, together with the questionnaire. All the documentation was available on request in alternative formats such as large print, audio or another language. 1.5 The consultation was supported by a marketing campaign which included: Sending a letter explaining the project and the consultation to 27,000 addresses in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Sending over 42,000 emails about the consultation to Oyster users in the Borough who had signed up for updates Sending letters and emails to local, London wide and national statutory and non-statutory stakeholder groups Adverts in the local press, included in Appendix K A press release, included in Appendix L Organising two roadshow events; one at Barking Learning Library and one at the Rivergate Centre, Barking Riverside Organising and participating in five meetings with residents’ associations The face to face distribution of 2,000 consultation leaflets in the borough Tweeting updates on the TfL twitter account to alert/remind people about the consultation and the roadshow events The distribution of 2,000 consultation leaflets between Thames View and Richard Carey primary schools 1 Details of the 2014 consultation are available at tfl.gov.uk/gospeloak-barking 2 The supporting documentation is available at tfl.gov.uk/barking-riverside-consult 4 1.6 In the consultation questionnaire TfL asked the following questions about the proposals: In principle, do you support an extension of the London Overground line from Barking to Barking Riverside? Do you have a preferred alignment? Do you have any comments to make about route option A? Do you have any comments to make about route option B? Do you have any other comments about the proposals? Do you have any other comments about the consultation? (Clarity of information, the supporting documents, roadshows, etc.) 1.7 The consultation generated 600 responses, including 22 stakeholder responses. 587 respondents expressed a view on the principle of the scheme and the result was overwhelming positive, with 532 (90%) responding that they supported an extension of the London Overground line from Barking to Barking Riverside in principle. 1.8 398 respondents answered the question regarding their preference for route option A or route option B. 36 (9%) respondents said they preferred option A, while 211 (55%) said they preferred option B; 110 respondents (28%) had no preference and 31 (8%) did not support either option. 1.9 A comprehensive breakdown of these figures is given in section 6 of this report (Analysis of consultation responses). The responses are reported on firstly as a whole and then by those responding from within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, which is where the extension would be built. In addition the responses from residents from the Choats Road/Great Fleete Way area, with post codes beginning IG11 0X_ are reported on. These responses have been drawn out as they are the closest existing residents to any new viaduct with either option. A map showing the area highlighted in red is included below. Figure 1: Map highlighting properties in the Choats Road/Great Fleete Way area 5 1.10 Section 6 is supported by a comprehensive summary of all the comments received during the consultation in Appendices A1, A2, A3 and A4. The main positive themes which emerged are: Support for the proposal because it would help the area to grow Support for the proposal because it would improve transport accessibility Statements of support for route option B. 1.11 Some of the key issues and concerns are summarised as: The ability of Barking Station to accommodate extra passengers How new train services would be accommodated on the Tilbury line alongside existing c2c and freight services Impacts to existing residents, particularly those living to the east of Renwick Road who would be the nearest existing residents to any new viaduct Comments on passive provision for a second station near Renwick Road; as some asked for a second station to be delivered as part of the project. 1.12 Some consultees also asked about a further extension south of the River Thames, to Thamesmead and Abbey Wood. While such an extension is outside the scope of the project, comments are reflected in section 6 of this report (Analysis of consultation responses) and section 7 (Responses from stakeholders). Full details of all the consultation responses are available in Appendices A1 to A4. TfL responds to the comments regarding an extension south of the river and other issues in Answers to questions, which is included as Appendix M on page 64. 1.13 This report is published on the project website: tfl.gov.uk/barking-riverside-consult. In addition, everyone who contacted TfL in response to the consultation with an email or postal address will be notified that the consultation report is available and provided with details of how to access the report. 1.14 Work on the project continues.