| 15/04/2008 |
Petition
to Remove Speed Humps Submitted to Council. The petition created by
BBRAG to remove speed humps from roads in Chislehurst has now been submitted
to the council - see Hump_Petition for the
petition figures. |
| 01/02/2008 |
BBRAG
Launches Petition to Remove Speed Humps. Speed humps were installed in
Watts Lane and Manor Park Road in Chislehurst in 1999. But residents are fed
up with suffering from the pain and discomfort of driving over them. So the
Bromley Borough Roads Action Group has launched a petition to have them
removed. Read this letter given to residents for more information:
Petition_Letter, or print this page:
Petition and return it to us to support this
campaign (get as many people to sign it as possible). |
| 30/07/2007 |
Thames
Gateway Bridge - A Victory for the Luddites? The inspector recommended
that the proposals for the Thames Gateway Bridge should be rejected after a
two year public inquiry. But the Secretary of State has asked for the
inquiry to be reopened. See
Thames_Gateway_Bridge for the full story. |
| 21/07/2007 |
London
Congestion Worsening - It's Official.
Transport for
London (TfL) recently published their fifth Annual Monitoring Report on the
London Congestion Charge. And it reveals what most London motorists already
knew – that congestion is almost back to where it was before the Congestion
Charge tax was introduced. The report also shows that there has been no
environmental benefit in terms of measurable reductions in overall air
pollution on the ground. For more details see the following report:
London_Congestion_Report_July2007.
|
| 17/07/2007 |
ABD
Launches Campaign Against Greenwich Road Tools. The Association of
British Drivers (ABD) has launched a campaign against proposals for
congestion charging or road tolls in Greenwich (and on the Blackwall
Tunnel). See the ABD press release at
ABD_Press_014 for
more information, or the following document:
Greenwich_Road_Tolls |
| 03/07/2007 |
Bromley
Councillor Simon Fawthrop Launches Bid for Mayoral Nomination. One of
several Conservative candidates for the London Mayoral election in 2008 is
Bromley Councillor Simon Fawthrop. His transport policies are outlined in
the following document:
London_Transport_Policy_Fawthrop |
| 24/06/2007 |
Proposals
to Extend Bromley Town Centre CPZ. Proposals to include Garden Road and
Edward Road (off Plaistow Lane) in a CPZ have been put to public
consultation. But BBRAG argues there is no significant parking problem in
these roads. See our objection letter in the following document:
Garden_Road_CPZ. |
| 22/04/2007 |
Tidal
Flow in Blackwall Tunnel Ended. The tidal flow system that operates in
the Blackwall Tunnel during morning rush hours has been ended without any
notice and without consultation. Congestion at the north bound entrance is
likely to worsen considerably. See the following article for more
information and how to object:
Tidal_Flow_in_Blackwall_Tunnel_Ended |
| 21/3/2007 |
Bromley
Council Adopts Policy Opposing Congestion Charging and Road Pricing. At
a meeting of the Environment and Leisure Policy Development and Scrutiny
Committee on the 19th March, Bromley Council adopted a policy opposing
the extension of congestion charging across London and also opposing the
concept of road pricing. See the following document for details of the
resolution and the speech given by Councillor Nicholas Bennett in proposing
the resolution: Bromley_Road_Pricing.
Note that a later TV debate on the issue of road pricing is described in the
following document:
Road_Pricing_TV_Debate |
| 18/3/2007 |
Greenwich
and Blackwall Tunnel Road Tolls Proposed. Transport for London and
Greenwich Council are conducting public surveys about a proposed congestion
charge that would cover much of Greenwich and major roads such as the A2 and
Blackwall Tunnel approach. Read the following article for more information:
Greenwich_Road_Tolls |
| 28/12/2006 |
Petition
Against Speed Humps Launched.
A petition against
the use of speed humps on the new "direct petition" web site set up by 10
Downing Street (the office of the Prime Minister - yes this is no trivial
newspaper poll, it's the real thing that will be submitted to the PM in due
course). BBRAG has campaigned against the use of speed humps for some years
and we hope you will sign the petition by going to
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Nohumps/ and submitting your name. Don't
forget to forward the link to all your friends and acquaintances and
encourage them to sign it also. More information on the disadvantages of
speed humps is present on this web site at:
www.bromleytransport.org.uk/Humps.htm But if you want to get
rid of the pain and suffering they inflict, you have to sign the petition! |
| 16/12/2006 |
Proposals
to Increase Dartford Crossing Tolls. The Government has published a
consultation document regarding proposals to increase the Dartford Crossing
Toll for cars from £1 to £1.50, but it will become free overnight and there
will be bigger discounts for Dart-Tag users. However BBRAG believes it
should be made free, as originally promised to users. Go to
www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/dftconsuldartford/
for the full details or read the following article published in our
Newsletter:
Dartford_Crossing_Toll_Changes. Anyone who uses this crossing should
make sure they respond to the consultation. The BBRAG Consultation
response can be read at:
Dartford_Consultation_Response . Another good response was from the
National Alliance Against Tolls which can be seen at:
www.notolls.org.uk/dart2007response.pdf |
| 07/12/2006 |
Bickley
Traffic Calming Scheme Revised. Following over 200 objections from local
residents (and pressure from BBRAG of course), the Bickley East traffic
calming scheme has been extensively revised. A note on the changes is
present in the following document:
Bickley_Revised_Proposals. For the latest leaflet and objection form,
use this: Leaflet_Bickley2 |
| 06/11/2006 |
Richmond
Permit Parking Proposals. The London Borough of Richmond is proposing to
increase permit parking fees so that more highly polluting vehicle owners
pay a lot, lot more. Similar proposals are being considered by other London
boroughs, but this is clearly more about raising revenue than about cutting
pollution. See the following document which is a submission by the
Association of British Drivers to the Richmond consultation:
Richmond_Permit_Parking_Consulation. |
| 26/9/2006 |
Speed
Humps Have No Effect. It is now 7 years since seem humps were installed
in Manor Park Road, Chislehurst. For a report on their impact on road
accidents, go to the following page
Speed_humps_effect. |
| 16/9/2006 |
Presentation
to the "Preserving the American Dream" Conference. The conference
was about urban planning and transport policies in the USA and BBRAG
Chairman Roger Lawson gave an electronic presentation (unfortunately he was
unable to attend in person) which can be seen and heard on the following
page: Atlanta. It covers a lot of what is wrong
with transport and road safety policies in the UK. |
| 06/09/2006 |
Bickley
Traffic Calming Scheme. Bromley Council have used independent
consultants to devise a new traffic calming scheme which covers a wide area
of Bickley. Maps of the proposed scheme can be seen at:
Map1 and
Map2 . The cost of the scheme is
£250,000 (£60,000 from the developers of Aquila and the rest from Transport
for London). Our comments can be seen in the following letter sent in
response to the public consultation:
Consultation_Response.
In summary we object to many parts of the scheme such as the "throttles",
the 20 mph speed limit on Blackbrook Lane and the road closure on The
Fairway. We have also circulated a leaflet to residents - the front and back
sides of that are in the following documents:
Front and
Back. Photographs of some of the
roads involved, showing how they hardly look to be particularly hazardous,
are shown on the following page: Bickley_Roads |
| 02/09/2006 |
Tramlink
Extension to Crystal Palace.
At a meeting held at Bromley council on the 31st August, staff
from Transport for London (TfL) presented their proposals for an extension
of the Croydon Tramlink to Crystal Palace. For the full story on this
proposal, and the current economics of Tramlink, then go to this page:
Croydon Tramlink. |
| 25/08/2006 |
Cray
Avenue Bus Lane Fine Appeal Proves Council is Acting Unlawfully.
Orpington resident Roy Swift appealed against a fine for infringing the Cray
Avenue Bus Lane. He claimed that although he technically breached the bus
lane, as he was turning left and not impeding any buses, the fine should be
cancelled. He recently won the appeal. For the full story read this
document: CrayAvenueBusLane2. |
| 24/07/2006 |
Marlow
Road, Penge and Enforcement of 20 Mph Zone by Cameras. A 20 mph
zone was introduced into the Marlow Road area of Penge in 2004. Despite the
fact that there have been no accidents since, residents are still unhappy
and have persuaded Bromley Council to consider enforcement by speed cameras.
For the full story see: Marlow_Road.. |
| 05/07/2006 |
London
Congestion Charge has had No Impact on Air Quality. The London
Congestion Charge Tax has not resulted in improved air quality in London,
despite that being used as a justification to introduce it by Ken
Livingstone. Based on the latest report on the operation of the scheme by
TfL, it is clearly a myth that any improvement has resulted. For a
report see the following article from our Newsletter:
Congestion_Charge_Tax. And
for even more details and an example of how TfL are making false claims in
their advertisements, see this note:
Congestion Charge and Air Pollution |
| 02/07/2006 |
Bromley
Council Publishes Draft LIP. The London Borough of Bromley recently
published a draft Local Implementation Plan for Transport (available from
the Council or from BBRAG). As usual with such plans, which have to accord
with the Mayor or London's Transport Strategy, it says very little about how
the road network in Bromley could be improved to reduce traffic congestion.
The following is a report that will appear in our Newsletter:
LIP_Article, and our consultation submissions
are present in the following documents:
2006_Submission and
2005_Submission. |
| 18/06/2006 |
More
Bus Lane Cameras on Cray Avenue - An Election Issue? Two more
cameras to monitor infringements of the bus lane have been installed in Cray
Avenue, Orpington, despite complaints from many motorists that they were
collecting £100 fines through simple oversights and without ever impeding
any buses. Bromley and Chislehurst by-election candidate John Hemming-Clark
has included "removal of all bus lane cameras" in his election manifesto so
it will be interesting to see how many votes he collects (he is also opposed
to the London "Congestion tax" and speed cameras). |
| 17/06/2006 |
"Nc
Car Lanes" Proposed for London in Freight Review. Transport
for London (TfL) have recently issued at draft consultation document on
freight transport in London – “The London Freight Plan”. This can be
obtained from the internet at:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/freight/plan.asp .As the population of London
is growing (yes that is of course one of the results of the polices of Ken
Livingstone), and as freight transport needs are growing while it remains
heavily dependent on road transport, a review was certainly needed.
However, one of the most pernicious proposals is undoubtedly the suggestion
that “no-car lanes” be considered. |
| 21/05/2006 |
Recent Council
Election Results and a New Face for Transport.
The Conservatives increased their control of Bromley Council by winning 49
of the 60 council seats. The Tories ejected the LiberalDemocrats from
Orpington and Biggin Hill wards and also defeated long standing Labour
councillor John Holbrook in Cray Valley West.
 With
the new slate of councillors, responsibilities have been reassigned and
Councillor Colin Smith (picture left) has taken over responsibility from
George Taylor for the newly renamed “Environment & Leisure” Portfolio which
looks after transport matters.
In neighbouring Croydon, the Conservatives took control from Labour, their
success again being allegedly based on a policy of “no more speed humps”
according to a local resident. In Lewisham former Bromley LibDem councillor
Chris Maines lost his bid to become Mayor.
|
| 21/04/2006 |
Tesco Creates More Uproar In Orpington. Tesco have submitted a revised
planning application for redevelopment of the multi-storey car park site in
Station Road, Orpington. Despite many objections to the inadequate car
parking provision, the likely resulting traffic congestion and the impact on
local residents that were generated by the original planning application
which was approved by Bromley Council, the new proposals almost double the
retail floor space. See Tesco_Uproar
for the full story (a pdf document). |
| 06/04/2006 |
Cray Avenue Bus Lane Camera Angers Drivers. Many drivers are collecting
£100 fines for accidentally entering the bus lane on Cray Avenue, Orpington.
Even the council are surprised at how much money they are collecting.
Writers to the local newspaper, the News Shopper, are alleging that the
design of the road and the camera location are deliberately arranged to make
money and have nothing to do with "enforcement" of the bus lane. For the
full story see: Cray_Avenue_Camera.
Note that the recommendation of the Environment PDS Committee was confirmed
by Councillor George Taylor on the 5th April. |
| 18/03/2006 |
Low Emission Zone Coming to London. Transport for London (TfL) are
proposing to improve air quality in London by a "Low Emission Zone" which
will deter older, more polluting vehicles from entering the capital. See
Low_Emission_Zone for more details.
|
| 03/03/2006 |
Decision on Old Hill Scheme Made.
Councillor George
Taylor agreed to the proposal to replace the single speed cushions on Old
Hill, Chislehurst by speed tables at his meeting last night. See
Old_Hill_Decisions for a full report. |
| 26/02/2006 |
Review of Old Hill Humps Published. Bromley Council have published the
promised review of the Old Hill Traffic
Calming Scheme. This can be seen at:
http://sharepoint.bromley.gov.uk/Public%20PDF/ELS06095%20df.pdf . In
summary, the proposal is to change the single "cushions" on the lower part
of the hill to speed tables, and introduce more parking restrictions. Our
comments to Councillor George Taylor on this report can be seen at:
Old_Hill_GTaylor4. The
changes
should improve the comfort for road users, and if properly designed, reduce
the noise that is generated by vehicles crossing the humps. Mr Taylor will make a final decision on the proposals at his meeting on
Thursday the 2nd March (6.0 pm at the Council Offices in Stockwell Close,
Bromley). He may yet turn down the proposals on cost grounds so a show of
public interest may well be helpful. If you can make it to the
meeting, please do so as I am sure you would find it of interest.
Note that at least the council has finally decided to do something about the
worst aspects of this scheme, after some years of complaints. The public
responses to the consultation made it clear that most people were unhappy
with the scheme so BBRAG has achieved something. But it's only a partial
success as the scheme will still be somewhat of a mess, and totally
unnecessary from the traffic speed and accident data included in the report. |
| 04/01/2006 |
370
Speed Humps Planned for Catford South. The London Borough of Lewisham is
continuing to pursue a policy of introducing speed humps and is now
proposing a 20 mph zone enforced by speed humps in the Bellingham area of
Catford (just north of Bromley). A local activist has set up a web site to
enable debate on this subject - see
www.roadhumpcampaign.org
or contact Lewisham Council for more information and a copy of their
consultation notice. |
| 10/12/2005 |
Old
Hill Speed Humps a Direct Cause of a Serious Accident. On the 4th
September 2005, Anja Szkodowski was riding a cycle down Old Hill,
Chislehurst, and did not notice the large, single “cushions” in the centre
of the road on the lower part of the hill. Anja was thrown from her bike and
was seriously injured. With breaks to her jaw in three places, and other
injuries, she spent three days in hospital and is still undergoing extensive
repair work to her teeth. For the full story see:
Old_Hill_Accident. |
| 2/12/2005 |
New
Campaign Against Dartford Crossing Tolls.
A campaign promoted by the UK Independence Party to have the Dartford
Crossing Tolls removed has been launched. See
www.scrapthetolls.com. It was
promised the tolls would be removed when the bridge had been paid for, but
the Government reneged on that commitment. They also cause needless
congestion and are probably illegal under European Law. |
| 14/10/2005 |
Public
Consultation on Old Hill Speed Humps.
Public
dissatisfaction with the traffic calming scheme for Old Hill, Chislehurst
has finally caused Bromley Council to undertake another consultation
exercise among local residents. BBRAG has actively pushed for changes to
this scheme for over two years, particularly to the single "cushions" which
exceed government guidelines on recommended widths. Residents should make
sure they submit their comments to the council. |
| 9/9/2005 |
“Star”
Letter in Newsshopper
The following letter from BBRAG Chairman Roger Lawson was published recently
in the local free newspaper and was awarded the editor’s “star” prize. It
followed a number of letters from previous correspondents criticising
Bromley Council and Councillors for alleged failings in reducing road
accidents.
“Your correspondents who claimed that Bromley has a worse record at reducing
road accidents based on the latest statistics, are simply wrong. Transport
for London (TfL) have recently published a report that shows how the various
London boroughs compare over the "baseline" of 1994/1998 to last year. This
provides a much sounder basis for comparison than taking one year in
isolation due to the random variations that affect any one year.
On the longer term basis, Bromley was almost spot on the average for all
London boroughs, and was better for example than similar boroughs such as
Lewisham, Harrow, Haringey and Enfield. Compare it with Lewisham for example
who are advocates of the use of speed humps and speed cameras, but whose
record is worse. The only boroughs who seem to do significantly better are
those that spend a lot more money and as Bromley depends on TfL for most of
its road safety improvement funding, perhaps your correspondents should be
complaining to them rather than to Bromley Councillors.
As regards the comments about 20 mph speed limits outside schools, and only
introducing road safety measures after there have been some accidents, the
current policies are exceedingly rational given the limited funding
available. It's better to tackle road accidents where you know they occur,
than try to guess where they might occur. And unfortunately the vast
majority of road accidents to school children do not take place outside
schools, so measures at schools alone are unlikely to be of great benefit.
In summary, if you want to reduce accidents, first study the facts, then
follow a rational policy and we will get somewhere. But using rhetoric to
harass responsible councillors and council staff over their imagined
failings will not help.” |
|
8/6/2005 |
Road
Deaths Fall 21% in London. Road accident fatalities in London in 2004
fell by 21% and "serious" accidents were down by 19%. Figures for Bromley
matched that trend, as did the figures for Barnet where fatalities actually
fell by 40% - Brian Coleman pointed out with glee that the results of his
policies to remove speed humps did not result in disaster as predicted by
TfL and Ken Livingstone. |
|
16/4/2005 |
Inspector's
Report on UDP Published. The council published a draft Unitary
Development Plan some 2 years ago, and following a Public Inquiry, the
Inspector's Report has now been published. The following article gives
details of the results of the original objections by BBRAG:
UDP_Inspectors_Report |
|
27/3/2005 |
Bromley
Publishes Transport Local Implementation Plan (LIP). Bromley Council
have recently published a consultation document on how they intend to
implement the Mayor of London's Transport Strategy. This will dictate local
transport policy for the next few years and is over 400 pages long - it can
be seen at
http://www.bromley.gov.uk/content/transport/transp_strategy/lip_transport.html
. The comments submitted on behalf of BBRAG can be obtained from the
following:
LIP_Consultation |
|
8/3/2005 |
Biggin
Hill Airport Issues Draft Master Plan.
The operators of Biggin Hill Airport have issued a “Master Plan” for future
development of the airport. The plan envisages “limited growth” and “small
scale development” but also includes the introduction of some scheduled
flights, and extended operating hours.
This is despite the fact that their attempt to reinterpret the existing
lease so as to permit scheduled flights was thrown out by a judge last year. Please
send your comments to Bromley Council, to your local councillor, or to the
airport operators at: Master Plan Consultation,
Biggin Hill Airport,
TN16 3BN (email:
masterplan@bigginhillairport.com) as soon as possible. |
|
20/12/2004 |
Mayor
Announces Clean-Up of London Taxis. Ken Livingstone has announced new
regulations that will require London's "black" cabs to meet new emission
standards by 2007. Taxis are responsible for 24% of fine particulate
pollution and 12% of nitrogen dioxide in central London. Taxis will require
to be modified to meet the new standards and fares will rise by 20 pence to
cover those costs. |
|
6/12/2004 |
Bromley
Speed Camera Proposals Rejected.
Councillor George
Taylor has rejected proposals from TfL for several more speed cameras on
borough roads. However, TfL will be installing new cameras on Bromley Common
and Tweedy Road over which they have sole control as they are major routes. |
|
2/12/2004 |
Congestion
Charge to Increase to £8. Mayor Ken Livingstone is proposing to increase
the London Congestion Charge from £5 to £8, with only minor other changes to
the scheme. This will generate an extra £50 million in revenue which he
needs to prop up the yawning gap in his transport budget. |
|
10/11/2004 |
Council
Approves Orpington Tesco Development. At last nights meeting of the
Development Control Committee, councillors voted by 10 to 4 to approve the
latest Tesco planning application for a superstore on the Station Road car
park site. Local ward councillors and several committee members spoke
strongly against the proposals because of the adverse effects on local
residents, the parking problems and traffic congestion that will result. But
other members supported it as a regeneration measure and because it was
better than Tesco's previous proposals which might otherwise still be won on
appeal. Council officers recommended approval and suggested that traffic
problems would not occur and that parking provision was adequate. |
|
14/10/2004 |
Mayor
Proposes New Transport Plans. Ken Livingstone has unveiled proposals for
spending £10 billion on London's transport infrastructure. It includes the
new Thames Gateway bridge, some "air-cooled" underground trains, rail line
and Tramlink extensions and a Low Emission Zone by 2007. Some grandiose and
uneconomic projects such as West London trams have been put on the
back-burner. See London_Transport_Plans
for more information (a pdf article from our next newsletter). |
|
08/10/2004 |
London
Road Safety Plan Consultation Proposes Many More Speed Cameras.
Transport for London (TfL) have issued a Review and Consultation document on
their Road Safety Plan. It includes proposals for many more speed cameras,
including new ones in 20 mph zones. For the full story and how to respond
see:
London_Road_Safety_Plan_Consultation |
|
07/09/2004 |
Tesco
Submits New Application for Orpington Car Park Site. In addition to
appealing against refusal of their previous application, Tesco have
submitted a new one for the multi-storey car park site in Station Road,
Orpington. However, it's not a lot different and doesn't resolve the major
problems in the previous plans. BBRAG and the Orpington Car Park Action
Group (OCPAG) will be submitting objections to the new proposals. See
OCPAG_Press_002 for more details and how
to object (a PDF file), plus the OCPAG page for the
full background. |
|
05/09/2004 |
Proposals
to Revamp Bromley High Street South.
Bromley Council are
proposing improvements to Bromley High Street, Elmfield Road and adjacent
streets. Likely cost is about £200,000 but BBRAG thinks the proposals do not
go far enough and are rather a waste of money. For our objections to these
plans see the following letter (a pdf document)
Bbrag035_Letter. |
|
12/08/2004 |
Mayor
Pushes Ahead with Congestion Charging Extension. Despite almost 70% of
the public being against the idea, London Mayor Ken Livingstone is pushing
ahead with his plans for extension of the congestion charge zone to cover
Kengington and Chelsea. For the full story, see the following article:
Congestion_Charging_Article (a pdf document). |
|
06/08/2004 |
Crossrail:
What It Will Cost Us. The government recently announced the go-ahead in
principle for the London Crossrail project. For a demolition of the
financial lunacy of this project, see the following article:
Crossrail_Article (a pdf document).
|
|
27/07/2004 |
More
Humps for Blackheath?
The London Borough
of Lewisham has proposed a 20 mph zone and a mixture of speed tables, humps
and cushions for a wide area around Blackheath Village.
And how
did Lewisham, as a borough still building humps, compare to Bromley for
accident reduction in 2003? Bromley reduced casualties by 21% whereas
Lewisham managed exactly zero reduction. Clearly they have yet to learn that
expenditure on more humps is simply wasted expenditure! For more information
on the latest scheme, or to send your objections, contact: Pam Bacchus,
Transport and Engineering, Lewisham Council, 1st Floor,
Fleet
Building, Wearside Service Centre, Wearside Road, Lewisham, SE13 7EZ |
|
21/07/2004 |
Tesco
Submits Appeal Against Orpington Car Park Development. Following
rejection of their planning application for the Station Road Multi-Storey
Car Park site, Tesco have submitted an appeal which is likely to lead to an
"inquiry" later in the year. They are also expected to submit a separate,
revised application. The Orpington Car Park Action Group (O.C.P.A.G.) has
commenced a campaign to oppose both plans. |
|
06/07/2004 |
Council
Again Rejects Residents Representations on Old Hill. Councillor George
Taylor has again decided to do nothing about complaints from residents on
the traffic calming scheme for Old Hill. BBRAG has commissioned an
independent report on this scheme (see
Old_Hill_Report_MHeymer.pdf) and together with local residents has
submitted the following formal complaint to the council:
Old Hill
Letter_DBartlett.pdf. The original submission by BBRAG to Mr Taylor and
information on the responses of local residents to our leaflet can be seen
at: Old Hill Letter_G_Taylor.pdf |
|
05/07/2004 |
Group
Formed to Fight Orpington Car Park Proposals. A committee has been
formed comprising the interests of local residents, offices, retail
businesses and BBRAG to fight the Tesco proposals for redevelopment of the
Orpington Station Road Car Park. Contact BBRAG for more information on this.
Meanwhile Tesco are apparently considering revised plans which would lower
the structure further into the ground, but this not meet most of the
objections according to the new committee. |
|
28/06/2004 |
Road
Deaths Rise But Casualties Fall. Bromley showed the same trends as
nationally with a small rise in road deaths in 2003 (statistically, no
significant change) but a fall in overall casualties. Overall casualities in
Bromley fell by 21%, making it the second best of all London boroughs
despite adopting a policy of "no more speed humps" in 2002. |
|
19/05/2004 |
BBRAG
Publishes the Facts on Councillors Legal Liabilities.
When the public
demand the removal of humps, you sometimes hear it argued by councillors or
council staff that there are legal difficulties in doing so - for example
that councillors might be personally liable if accidents subsequently
occurred. This is in reality nonsense. The possible legal liabilities and
obligations of councillors and local authority staff are fully spelled out
in the following document:
Councillors_Liabilities. |
|
21/04/2004 |
Tesco
Application for Superstore on Orpington Car Park Site Rejected.
At a Council
Development Control Committee Meeting last night, councillors decisively
rejected the Outline Planning Application by Tesco for redevelopment of the
Station Road Car Park site. For more information see:
Plan_Rejected. |
|
20/04/2004 |
GLA
Hump Inquiry Concluded. The Greater London Assembly Inquiry into speed
humps has been concluded and a disappointing and biased report produced. For
the full story see:
Hump_Inquiry_Concluded. |
|
05/04/2004 |
Revised
Tesco Application for Orpington Car Park Site.
Tesco have
submitted a revised application for the Station Road Car Park site, with
some minor changes from the original. For our latest objection letter on
this subject, see:
Orpington_Letter2. Note that there will be a public meeting to discuss
the development on Thursday the 15th April, starting at 7.30 pm, at the
Methodist Church, Sevenoaks Road, Orpington. |
|
31/03/2004 |
Waldo
Road Refuse Site to be Improved. The council refuse site is to be
redeveloped to provide many more parking bays for cars (30 versus 10 at
present). It is hoped this will cut congestion on Homesdale Road caused by
queuing vehicles which has been a problem for many years. However visitors
may have to sort their refuse. |
|
29/03/2004 |
North
Street Closure Causes Objections. North Street in the north Bromley area
has been closed to through traffic. A local taxi firm who operate from
nearby East Street have raised objections and complained that they were not
consulted. |
|
27/03/2004 |
Brian
Coleman Versus the Taliban. Outspoken Barnet councillor Brian Coleman
has brought down the wrath of Ken Livingstone, Transport for London and
every other anti-car fanatic upon himself. He has removed speed humps and
been trying to get traffic moving more freely by other measures, and has
said "TfL stands for Taliban for London". See the following PDF file for the
full story: Coleman_v_Taliban. |
|
23/03/2004 |
Penge
CPZ Proposals Likely to be Abandoned. Proposals for a Controlled Parking
Zone around Penge East station are now likely to be abandoned following a
consultation exercise where 56% of people were against it. This follows the
failure of an even wider scheme which was also scrapped due to public
opposition. |
|
18/02/2004 |
Congestion
Charging Extension Generates Protests.
Over 700 people
attended a meeting in Kensington Town Hall to protest against the proposed
extension of the London Congestion Charging zone. The extension will cover
much of Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster and has recently been put out to
public consultation. See
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/cc-ex/proposal.shtml for more information and
to submit your comments. |
|
10/02/2004 |
Councillors
Unanimously Oppose Orpington Car Park Proposals. At a Development
Control Committee meeting today, councillors expressed strong opinions
against the proposed Tesco store development to replace the Station Road car
park. The outline planning application was deferred pending a more detail
review of the proposal and a site visit by councillors. Insufficient
parking, traffic problems, the overshadowing of residential properties, tree
loss, damage to other HIgh Street retailers and several other arguments were
raised against the proposals. For the full story to date, see:
Orpington_Car_Park_HTML (for a web
version) or
Orpington_Car_Park_Row_PDF (for a
PDF document).. |
|
05/02/2004 |
Hull
Presents Spurious Road Safety Claims to GLA. At the Greater London
Assembly Transport Committee Inquiry into speed humps, representatives from
the City of Kingston upon Hull presented data which claimed to show the
success of their widespread road hump and other traffic calming schemes. In
reality analysis shows these claims are totally unfounded - see
Hulls_Spurious_Claims for more
information. |
|
05/02/2004 |
Enfield
Also Abandoning Speed Humps. At today's second meeting of the GLA
Transport Committee Inquiry into speed humps, it became apparent that the
London Borough of Enfield has also changed it's policy on speed humps as a
traffic calming measure - in future other devices or solutions will be used
in preference. Gareth Davies from Bromley Council also spoke at the meeting
and was complimented on the "motorist friendly" policies of the borough.
See GLA_Committee_Report2
for more information. |
|
30/01/2004 |
Many
Objections to Orpington Car Park Redevelopment at Public Meeting. A
public meeting was held on the 28th January at the Liberal Hall in
Orpington. Despite the snow, more than 70 people attended and there was
strong opposition expressed to the nature of the proposed Tesco supermarket
which will replace the multi-storey car park in Station Road, Orpington.
Concerns expressed were traffic issues, limited parking capacity,
overshadowing neighbouring houses and removal of trees. For more information
see the Liberal Democrats web site at:
http://www.bromleylibdems.org.uk/story.php?id=79&PHPSESSID=646d485ee7924bacfc60c22de3a8da19
|
|
28/01/2004 |
Over
60 Residents Object to Old Hill Speed Humps. Many residents of Old Hill,
Chislehurst feel the speed humps that were installed some months ago are
positively dangerous. More than 60 have submitted objections via BBRAG to
the council. BBRAG also believes that the single "cushions" on the lower
part of the hill are contrary to government recommendations. |
|
29/12/2003 |
BBRAG
Adopts New Speed Hump Policies.
So as to promote a
clear and reasonable policy on the installation, and the removal, of speed
humps, BBRAG has adopted a formal policy statement which it will promote in
future to local councillors, council staff and other bodies. See
Speed_Hump_Policies for details. |
|
11/12/2003 |
GLA
Debate Speed Humps. The Greater London Assembly Transport Committee
today opened their inquiry into speed humps. The London Ambulance Service
complained strongly about the delays to ambulances, and the hence risk of
death to patients, that they caused. See
GLA_Committee_Report1
for a full report. |
|
9/12/2003 |
Car
Clamping Comes to Bromley. Wheel clamping for persistent parking
offenders is to be introduced to Bromley. Last year almost £700,000 of
parking penalty notices could not be collected from people who didn't pay or
could not be traced. |
|
3/12/2003 |
London
Police Join Attack on Speed Humps. The Metropolitan Police have
complained that road humps needlessly delay their vehicles in a submission
to the London Assembly's transport committee. They accuse local councils of
implementing hump schemes in roads that have no history of accidents. |
|
29/11/2003 |
Orpington
Multi-Storey Parking to be Cut to Less than a Third.
An outline planning
application by Tesco for a new foodstore and car park to replace the
existing multi-storey car park in Station Road only has provision for 166
spaces. This is less than one third of the existing space and is
insufficient to meet existing demand which will result in major
inconvenience to local businesses and shoppers. |
|
31/10/2003 |
BBRAG
Issues Report on London Congestion Charge. Following the publication by
Transport for London of it's report on the scheme after 6 months in
operation, BBRAG has submitted a note on the scheme to the London Assembly.
See
Congestion_Submission for more details. In summary, BBRAG opposes
continuation of congestion charging unless major improvements are made. |
|
19/10/2003 |
BBRAG
Submits UDP Objections. A public inquiry on the Bromley Unitary
Development Plan (UDP) starts in November. BBRAG has submitted a number of
objections to aspects of the transport policy. See
UDP Submissions for more details. |
|
02/10/2003 |
The
End of Bromley? London Mayor Ken Livingstone is proposing to scrap the
32 London Boroughs and replace them with five large districts. The London
Borough of Bromley would become part of a new "South-East London" district.
He believes this would help improve efficiency. |
|
26/09/2003 |
Permit
Parking Scheme to Go Ahead in Burnt Ash Lane Area. Despite the fact that
more local residents voted for other options than for the proposed Permit
Parking Scheme (by 144 to 131 to be exact), the latter has been given
approval to go ahead. Comments of non-residents and organisations who
represent the people of Bromley as a whole (eg. BBRAG) were also ignored. |
|
21/08/2003 |
Mayor
Raises Bus and Tube Fares. Ken Livingstone has announced that bus and
tube fares will rise by an average of 3.6% and 7.4% respectively, making
them some of the most expensive in the world. He claims it was "Because
there is no extra funding from government..." but other commentators pointed
out the looming hole in TfL budgets as the cause, partly down to lack of
revenue from congestion charging. There will be concessions for Oyster Card
users however (see www.oystercard.com)
|
|
15/08/2003 |
Mobile
Speed Cameras in Bromley. The London Camera Safety Partnership have
deployed some new camera vans to catch speeding motorists. Head of Road
Safety in Bromley, John Walton, claims that excessive speed is a major
contributory factor in one in five road accidents in Bromley and is a worse
problem than drink driving. |
|
31/07/2003 |
London
Mayor Bails Out Congestion Charge Operator with £31million. Ken
Livingstone has agreed that Capita, the operator of the Congestion Charge
scheme, will receive an extra £31million over the remainder of their
contract. This is to compensate them for the fact they are not making a
profit on the scheme due to the low numbers of motorists entering the zone,
and in addition, many of them not paying. It will enable Capita to improve
enforcement. |
|
26/06/2003 |
Camden
Residents Oppose Speed Bumps and Road Closure. Residents of the London
Borough of Camden have formed a group to oppose multiple speed bumps, a wide
area 20 mph zone and closure of one end of Regents Park Road. The limited
consultation process has also annoyed residents. Traffic calming schemes in
Camden, funded by Transport for London, seem to have got out of hand of late
and take little notice of road safety data or the practical concerns of
residents. |
|
19/06/2003 |
Barnet
Decides to Remove All Speed Humps. The London Borough of Barnet plans to
remove all speed humps in the borough over the next 5 years as they claim
that they simply don't work. Councillor Brian Coleman said that "Motorists
have for years faced an anti-car agenda. We are taking a different approach.
Our policy is to make traffic flow more freely....." |
|
06/06/2003 |
Aquila
Development Approved and Proposals for Magpie Hall Lane. The council
planning committee have approved the revised housing proposals for the
Aquila site in Bickley, and have also approved plans for a new school in
Magpie Hall Lane. There are also proposals for traffic calming including a
20 mph zone in the Magpie Hall and Marlow Road, Penge areas. |
|
20/05/2003 |
New
Thames Gateway Bridge Proposed. A new bridge to cross the river near
Thamesmead is proposed and has been put out to public consultation. See
http://www.londontransport.co.uk/tfl/tgb-intro.shtml for more details. |
|
18/05/2003 |
More
Speed Cameras in Kent.
There are going to
be 14 new fixed camera sites and 19 mobile cameras deployed in Kent by the
Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership - see
www.kentandmedwaysafetycameras.org.uk. |
|
10/05/2003 |
Plans
to Revise A2 Route Across Blackheath. Greenwich and Lewisham Councils
have plans to "improve" the A2 road across Blackheath by narrowing it and
otherwise improving the Blackheath open space. |
|
25/04/2003 |
Old
Hill, Chislehurst, Finally Has Speed Humps Installed. Speed humps have
been installed in Old Hill and paid for by a private developer. The design
includes two single "cushions" on the lower part of the hill that encourage
vehicles to drive down the centre of the road (a dangerous practice on what
is a bend where you cannot see oncoming traffic). |
|
25/04/2003 |
B.B.R.A.G.
Publishes Complete List of Speed Humps in Bromley. A new page has
been added to this web site (at Hump List) which
gives you a complete list of all the roads in Bromley that contain speed
humps. It also shows the cost (totalling over £1million to date) of these
schemes. |
|
21/03/2003 |
Revised
Aquila Site Proposals.
A revised planning
application has been made for the ex-MOD site at Aquila in Bickley. The
latest proposals reduce the number of dwellings to 212 from the previous 280
(to which many local residents objected). |
|
12/03/2003 |
No
Speed Bumps in Road Safety Plans. Traffic calming schemes for Elmstead
Lane, Poverest Road, Queensway, Maple Road and Leesons Hill have recently
been approved by Environment Portfolio Holder George Taylor. But they will
not use speed humps as the preference will be for the "non-vertical
deflection" option that was included in the consultation document. Residents
and road users who were consulted voted by large majorities against road
humps. |
|
10/03/2003 |
More
Cars But Less Car Usage in Bromley. The 2001 Census results show that
the number of car owners rose only slightly to 77% of the population, but
the number using cars as their main source of transport to work fell from
50% to 45%. The total population of Bromley remained basically unchanged. |
|
09/02/2003 |
Congestion
Charging in Bromley? Government transport adviser, Professor David Begg,
has said that the congestion charging scheme should be extended to outer
London if it proves successful in the centre. He said "There's a big growth
in traffic and congestion in outer London and we need to look at tackling
that." David Begg has been a consistent supporter of wide area congestion
charging schemes. |
|
07/02/2003 |
Croydon
Tramlink About to go Bust? According to financial statements recently
filed by operating company Tramtrack Croydon, "At the time of preparation of
these accounts the company did not have sufficient funds to continue trading
beyond March 25". In other words, it's almost run out of cash. Tramtrack lost
£9.5m on turnover of £13.4m in the year to 31 March 2002. Go to
Tramlink for more information. |
|
27/01/2003 |
London
Ambulance Service Chairman Blames Speed Bumps for Unnecessary Deaths.
Sigurd Reinton, Chairman of LAS was reported as saying to the Evening
Standard that measures such as road humps are actually costing more lives
than they save, due to their impact on slowing ambulance services. Up to 800
victims of cardiac arrest die in London for every minute of delay, and there
are likely to be more additional deaths caused from delays than are saved by
traffic calming. |
|
31/12/2002 |
Council
Proposes "Throttle Point" for Leesons Hill. As part of the recent road
safety scheme for Poverest Rd, Elmstead Lane, etc, the council have now also
proposed an "alternate one way working" system for Leesons Hill, Orpington.
|
|
17/12/2002 |
Government
Admits Road Congestion Target Will Not Be Met. Alastair Darling, the
Transport Secretary, admits that the government's 10 year plan to cut delays
will not be achieved, and that in fact congestion may get worse before it
gets better. However he has also recently announced £5.5bn for main road
widening and some local schemes although it will be many years before
implementation. |
|
12/12/2002 |
Proposals
to Revise A20 Route Through Lewisham. It is proposed as part of the
"Urban Renaissance" programme to redevelop a major part of Lewisham town
centre. This would include replacing the roundabout on the A20 at the
junction of Lewisham High Street and Molesworth Street, an existing
congestion black spot, with traffic lights and/or a new "H" shaped junction. |
|
06/12/2002 |
Major
Article on Improving Transport in Bromley Published. A set of
proposals to improve transport in Bromley has been put forward by B.B.R.A.G.
- read the article by Roger Lawson at
Improving Transport for more details. |
|
18/11/2002 |
Additional
Council Proposals for 60 Humps in Poverest
Road, Queensway, Elmstead Lane and
Maple Road. Proposals for over 60 humps on major roads in Bromley have
been described before (see 27/09/2002 below). Due to the number of
objections, alternative "non-vertical deflection" proposals will also be put
to public consultation - go to 60Humps_Update
for more information. |
|
10/11/2002 |
Yawning
Funding Gap for London Plan. At the recent London Conference to review
the London Strategic Plan, Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley stated that
there was a shortfall of over £1 billion per year in funding the proposed
Plan. Improved bus services were emphasised, which are already costing an
extra £200 million per annum according to Mayor Ken Livingstone, but he
begged for more of the central government tax revenue to enable other major
projects to go ahead. |
|
27/09/2002 |
Over
60 Speed Bumps on Major Roads in Bromley? Proposals have been put
forward to introduce over 60 speed bumps (cushions and tables) on Poverest
Road in Orpington, Queensway in Petts Wood, Elmstead Lane in Chislehurst and
Maple Road in Penge. These proposals will go out to public consultation in
the near future. For more details on
these proposals and how to object go to 60Humps.
Note: these proposals were subsequently abandoned due to public pressure. |
|
26/07/2002 |
Orbit
Study of M25 - Consultation Comments Invited. A multi-modal study
of transport problems associated with the M25 has produced some initial
recommendations. See
www.orbitproject.com. Suggestions include a high quality orbital bus
network, major new rail infrastructure and some widening of the M25 together
with measures to restrict usage. You can print off a comment submission form
from their web site and send it back by the 31st July. |
|
21/05/2002 |
New
Council Executive Adopts Revised Traffic Calming Policies.
At an Executive meeting on the 20th May
of Bromley Council
the following policies
were agreed:
1)
Traffic management should concentrate on cost effective measures without
detriment to the free flow of traffic,
2)
There will be a preference for no vertical speed reduction installations (ie.
bumps),
subject to considering each case on its merits,
3)
A report is to be prepared regarding the feasibility of contracting out all
aspects of traffic management in Bromley.
|
|
16/05/2002 |
Mayor
Ken Livingstone Proposes Congestion Charge Around Heathrow. In addition
to the planned central London congestion charging scheme, Ken Livingstone is
now proposing a similar scheme around the London Heathrow Airport. It would
be aimed at lowering the use of cars and taxis to travel to the airport.
Charges raised would probably be used to fund the CrossRail link. |
|
11/04/2002 |
Details
of London Congestion Charging Scheme. An article explaining the London
Congestion Charging scheme which commences in February 2003 has been
published in the latest B.B.R.A.G. Newsletter - a copy is on the following
web page:
www.bromleytransport.org.uk/London%20Transport%20Strategy.htm |
|
15/12/2001 |
Commission
for Integrated Transport.
The CfIT announces that UK
has the worst transport system in Europe and publishes a report giving all
the details of why Britain's spend longer in traffic jams, pay more for
public transport and have invested least in transport over the last few
years. |
