(A3) Tolworth Road Junction with (A240) Kingston Road, (Tolworth roundabout) Consultation Report July 2021 1 Contents Executive summary ..................................................................................................... 3 1. Summary of consultation responses ................................................................... 4 1.1 Summary of responses to Question 1 ............................................................ 5 1.2 Summary of responses to Question 2 ............................................................ 5 1.3 Summary of responses to Question 3 ............................................................ 6 1.4 Summary of responses to Question 4 ............................................................ 8 1.5 Stakeholder responses .................................................................................. 9 2. About the consultation ........................................................................................... 11 2.1 Purpose ........................................................................................................ 11 2.2 Potential outcomes ....................................................................................... 11 2.3 Who we consulted ........................................................................................ 11 2.4 Dates and duration ....................................................................................... 12 2.5 What we asked ............................................................................................. 12 2.6 Methods of responding ................................................................................. 13 2.7 Consultation materials and publicity ............................................................. 13 2.8 Equalities Assessment ................................................................................. 14 2.9 Analysis of consultation responses .............................................................. 14 2.10 Consultation report and responses to issues raised ...................................... 14 3. About the respondents ......................................................................................... 15 3.1 Number of respondents ................................................................................ 15 3.2 How respondents heard about the consultation ........................................... 15 3.3 Methods of responding ................................................................................. 15 3.4 Comments on the consultation process and material ................................... 16 4. Next steps ......................................................................................................... 18 Appendix A: Detailed analysis of comments ............................................................. 19 Appendix B: Consultation questions .......................................................................... 24 Appendix C: Consultation letter/leaflet ...................................................................... 30 Appendix D: Summary of Stakeholder replies ........................................................... 36 Appendix E: List of stakeholders consulted ............................................................... 40 Appendix F Response to issues raised ..................................................................... 45 2 Executive summary Tolworth is a district centre located adjacent to the A3 in outer London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. High volumes of traffic use the A3 and A240 junction and create a poor environment for pedestrians and cyclists and result in poor air quality. Delays and congestion negatively impact on the reliability and journey times of all vehicles including buses using the junction. New developments are planned in the area adjacent to the A3 and Tolworth junction that includes over 1300 new homes and new head office building that will bring up to 750 jobs into the area. These developments are likely to increase the demand (from all road users) on carriageway road space on the approaches to and at Tolworth junction roundabout. Traffic modelling has shown that the traffic impacts of the committed developments will result in a significant adverse impact on an already poor road performance including increase in bus journey times. The proposed changes have been designed to provide for the increased demand for all road users, and particularly with the aim to ensure that vehicle journey times and queues are not worsened. We consulted on proposed improvements at this junction between 29 October 2019 and 5 January 2020. We received 232 responses to the consultation (including seven responses from stakeholders). The largest number of respondents who indicated that they travel through the area two to three times a week or more were those using motor vehicles (69 per cent) or walking (37 per cent). 49 per cent of respondents stated the proposed additional traffic lane for traffic turning left onto the A3 would make their journey quicker, 25 per cent advised it would not make any difference. However, regarding the other aspects of the proposals, most respondents advised they would make no difference to, or increase, their journey time. 41 per cent of those who answered advised wider traffic lanes on the roundabout would make them feel safer or a lot safer. For the proposal to introduce an additional lane for traffic turning left onto the A3, the largest number of respondents (35 per cent) stated the changes would make them feel safer or a lot safer, although this was only slightly more than the number of those who stated the proposal would make them feel less safe or very unsafe (33 per cent) or would make no difference (30 per cent). For each of the other aspects of the proposals, the largest number of 3 responses were from those who advised that they would make no difference to how safe they felt. The main themes raised by respondents included: Concern that the proposals are for motorists only and do not improve things for cyclists, pedestrians or public transport General support for the scheme Concern that the proposals will increase congestion/journey times/pollution Opposition to the proposed subway closure More detailed analysis can be found in Chapters 1 and 3 of this report. Next Steps Subject to funding and future decisions, we will work with the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and other stakeholders to deliver this scheme. Having analysed the consultation responses and considering the current and forecasted traffic in and around the Tolworth roundabout junction area, we are going to implement the scheme with some changes following the consultation and further reviews of the area. The changes are: Keeping the subway entrance/exit ramp at the Sunray Estate side of the junction but removing one set of steps instead Changing the design of the drop off area outside of the Hollywood Bowl Investigating options to remove pinch point for cyclists travelling northbound at Tolworth national rail station We are now working on developing the detailed design of the scheme. We anticipate starting work in late 2022 with the construction taking around 6-9 months. The publication of this report was delayed due to the pandemic. Our project staff were furloughed and delivery of projects paused. Our programme of investment in Healthy Streets restarted in December 2020, upon approval of funding from central Government, and the Tolworth project was restarted. The Healthy Streets programme (our portfolio of projects proposed to improve London’s highways for people walking, cycling and travelling by public transport) will support London’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and avoid a potentially damaging increase in private car-use. 1. Summary of consultation responses We received 232 responses to consultation; 225 were from members of the public and seven were from stakeholders. Chapter 3 summarises the demographic information about the respondents. 4 In order to more clearly show the numbers of people who had a view on the aspect of the proposal, the graphs and tables in the sections 1.1 to 1.3 do not include numbers for those who did not answer each question or who responded ‘not applicable’. 1.1 Summary of responses to Question 1 The first question asked how respondents travelled through the junction and how often they did so. 1.1.1 Overall summary The table below sets out the public responses to this question. Of those who responded to each aspect of the question, 37 per cent of those who walked through the junction indicated that they did so 2-3 times a week or more, as did 69 per cent of those travelling by motor vehicle. The number of cyclists and public transport users who used the junction at least 2-3 times a week was lower, at 13 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. Public Walking Cycling Motor vehicle transport Total % Total % Total % Total % Daily 25 18% 4 3% 13 10% 45 30% 2-3 times a week 27 19% 14 10% 14 10% 58 39% Once a month 16 11% 20 15% 29 21% 15 10% Less than once 27 19% 24 18% 28 21% 12 8% a month Never 45 32% 74 54% 51 38% 19 13% Total answered 140 100% 136 100% 135 100% 149 100% 1.2 Summary of responses to Question 2 Question 2 asked respondents what impact they thought six aspects of our proposals would have on their journey time through and around the junction. 1.2.1 Overall summary The graph below shows the responses to this question. Regarding the proposed additional traffic lane for traffic turning left onto the A3, the largest number