Town Hall reporter KEN LEE on the last knockings of a public consultation over road systems in and around Addiscombe
No joke: one Photoshopped sign sums up the frustrations of hundreds of Addiscombe households for the past decade
Ten years since one Labour councillor managed to get the one-way system around Addiscombe changed just to make things calmer and more peaceful along his own street, and Croydon Council is one step closer to finally untangling the traffic congestion caused by those unpopular changes.
The final two “drop-in” sessions of a public consultation are being held tomorrow (November 28) and Saturday (November 30), in part of a dialogue that has been going on for the past year over the traffic systems in and around Addiscombe and Shirley.
To a degree, the project shows what can be achieved with the help of an active and well-organised residents’ association (or in this case, seven of them). On the other hand, it shows quite how slow Croydon Council can be in responding to what was a pretty dire example of road planning.
As the ECCO residents’ association warns, “These proposals may lead to significant changes in traffic movements in your road.”
Following previous discussions earlier this year with representatives from residents’ associations, consultants have worked some of the ideas generated into the proposals which are being laid out for inspection at the drop-in sessions.
ECCO – the East Croydon Community Organisation, one of those RAs consulted – say that their committee members “have focused on putting forward ideas to make our local roads safer and healthier for all our residents, young and old – driver, cyclist and pedestrian”.
Detailed proposals: the council suggests changing access restrictions to several roads through Addiscombe to Shirley
Importantly, they add: “They do not wish this project to be merely an exercise in re-siphoning non-residential traffic movements from one road to another.” A reference to the impact of making Lebanon Road one-way in 2015. Labour councillor Mark (now “Marc”) Watson was the convicted fraudster (conviction now spent) and member of Tony Newman’s cabal who it is suggested used his influence to effect the changes, and just happened to live on Lebanon Road…
The untangling has been going on ever since.
The council says: “The Addiscombe East and West Neighbourhood Project started in October 2023 after residents raised road safety issues about the high level of through traffic in some residential roads.”
The road planning in the area is particularly complicated and sensitive, as the roads include several bus routes, the tram line and the East India Conservation Area.
Roads affected by the (literally) wide-ranging proposals include Leslie Park Road, Canning Road and Northampton Road, Colworth Road, Brockenhurst Road, Kingscote Road, Bingham Road, Elgin, Havelock, Outram and Ashburton roads, and Clyde Road, and also Lebanon Road, Oval Road, Barclay Road (at the Addiscombe Grove junction), Tunstall and Addiscombe Court roads, Addiscombe Road (from Fryston Avenue, Birch Tree Way and Shirley Road), Blackhorse Lane and the Leslie Arms roundabout.
Among the proposed changes are new crossings, several box junctions, new “no right turn” restrictions, narrowing side road junctions, introduction of a 20mph limit, raising the road surface to the same height of footways at the entrances to some junctions, and revision of the one-way system “in a few residential roads”.
Slower, quieter, safer: the council says that 20mph speed limits and traffic calming measures will also improve traffic flow in the area for all road users and residents
The council’s summary even dibs-in the changes that were made a decade ago at the behest of one Labour council cabinet member: “In 2015, Lebanon Road was made one way southbound to remove northbound commuter traffic and improve road safety. Consequently, the residential roads adjacent to Lebanon Road felt the impact of displaced traffic, which resulted in the introduction of further traffic management measures on Addiscombe Court Road, Canning Road and Clyde Road in 2018.”
So unpopular had the road changes become that, in 2017, Councillor Watson decided to not seek reselection as a candidate for the following year’s local elections, something which was bitterly resented by the then council leader, Tony Newman, and his mates, who blamed Inside Croydon… As if!
According to the council, the half-baked changes to the roads in the area between 2015 and 2018 have “caused traffic to be displaced to residential roads east of Clyde Road during the day and until late in the evenings”.
They write: “Additionally, Bingham Road which connects Lower Addiscombe Road to Shirley Road also carries high level of through traffic during the day and until late in the evenings. Similarly, Leslie Park Road in the west connecting Cherry Orchard Road and Lower Addiscombe Road carries through traffic which by-passes the Leslie Arms junction in both directions.”
The council says its key objectives are to:
- reduce the level of through traffic in the residential roads in the map
- reduce traffic speeds where vehicles are going above the speed limit and reduce the perception of road danger
- improve road safety
- encourage more walking and cycling
The drop-in sessions are being held in St Mildred’s, Bingham Road, from 5pm until 8.30pm in the Small Hall tomorrow (Nov 28) and from 2pm until 5pm in the Pavilion on Saturday (Nov 30).
You can also comment online until 11.50pm on Tuesday December 10 by clicking here.
The council is expected to feedback to residents’ associations, finalise all technical work and complete a formal submission to Transport for London by February 2025.
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If this all goes through the traffic jams along addiscombe, Shirley road and lower Addiscombe roads will be huge after 7pm! Bingham road will be jammed until 10:30 when it’s LTN starts too. These are crazy measures.
And how are the residents on the streets with LTNs supposed to get deliveries in the evening?
There’s ways to reduce speeds, but closing the road to drivers is just ridiculous
The scheme lacks ambition, shows out-of-date thinking and needs improvements:
* One-way restrictions – either existing, new or revised – have to exempt cyclists. Such exemptions are already in place at locations such as Canning Road, Addiscombe Court Road and Lebanon Road. They should be everywhere.
* No to speed cushions – they are dangerous for people with disabilities using three-wheeled mobility aids like handcycles, recumbents and tricycles, car and van drivers swerve to avoid them and motorcyclists can speed through them.
* Yes instead to full width sinusoidal speed humps.
* Yes to proposed average speed cameras.
* TfL should put a 20mph limit on Addiscombe Road, in line with other Red Routes elsewhere in London.
* Croydon council should complement that with a 20mph limit on the entire length of Lower Addiscombe Road.
* Remove the token gesture sub-standard obsolete too-narrow dotted white lines excuses for cycle lanes, which disappear without reason between 126 and 315 Addiscombe Road, where they are replaced pointless width restricting central hatching.
* Replace the above with protected cycles lane on Addiscombe Road (officially London Cycle Network 75) all the way from the Shirley roundabout to Croydon town centre.
* Make the eastbound cycle lane safer at Lebanon Road, which is a health and safety hazard due to the road narrowing at the platform, causing cyclists to risk slipping on the trapping their wheels in the tram rail.
* Yes to the redesign of the Addiscombe Road roundabout, which should prioritise pedestrian and cycle safety and convenience over the speed of motorists.
* Review the timing of restrictions to maximise public safety, particularly for children.
Let’s have no money-wasting half-measures here, but a scheme that shows Croydon can get it right.
While not perfect, the presented scheme will make our neighbourhood a lot more livable and walkable. I am in favour!
Leslie Park Road is currently quite busy with traffic from all directions, at all times. This scheme should improve this significantly.
Not sure what will happen with deliveries to addresses on roads with timed traffic restrictions however. This should be addressed / explained. Perhaps there is an option to implement the access restrictions at night only? (say, between 22:00 and 07:00).