Nigel Duncan on life in the heart of the low traffic neighbourhood

I support the arguments expressed in Greenwich Gone Too Far, and would like to add some personal comments as I have been worried by some of the comments on local social media about local road schemes. Some objectors seem to be anti-cyclist and mainly concerned to allow cars to be driven without any constraint. That is not my view. My main motivation is environmental.

I live in Royal Hill and have always walked or cycled whenever possible. I use my car very rarely, and only when I am carrying something heavy or going a considerable distance. When I was working in central London I went by a mixture of walking and public transport. The West Greenwich traffic scheme has made no difference to my choice of how to get about. However, when I do need to use the car (for example, to go to the recycling centre or to visit family outside the Borough) I am now inevitably forced  through the awful South Street/Blackheath Hill junction. I am now forced into stationary or really slow traffic making its way up Blackheath Hill, adding extra distance to my journey and, more importantly, contributing to the local pollution as stationary vehicles are the worst source of traffic pollution. For local journeys, obviously, I walk or cycle. But what if I couldn't? Many people need a car and this scheme seems to have ignored the needs of our disabled neighbours.  

So I believe the scheme is not achieving those aims. Even Royal Hill, where I live, and which was very quiet before the scheme, is now full of traffic. It is forcing residents to add to the problems on the A2 and A206, and streets in East Greenwich. It is worsening local pollution. And it will only get worse if the Silvertown Tunnel is ever built. So I would ask the Council and TFL to get their heads together to devise a scheme that does not simply displace traffic within the immediate neighbourhood, but looks more broadly at south east London and inhibits traffic from coming into the borough unless it has a reason for being here.
19 November 2020