URGENT Consultation Watch – Hammersmith Cemetery Neighbourhood Scheme

The council has notified us somewhat belatedly of a neighbourhood scheme in an area defined as Hammersmith Cemetary. Comments for both are requested by tomorrow Friday 15th November, by phone on 020 8753 3084 or email to Mathew Veale at the council.

20mph limit for some roads in the area

Here is the consultation letter from the council.

There are two separate proposals. one is for a 20mph limit in the area defined by signage only (rather than a zone which would legally need traffic calming). This is not the first scheme the council have proposed to use a limit rather than a zone for, that was near Ravenscourt Park.

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Map of the area for the neighbourhood scheme, 20mph limit roads in red. Click through for a larger version.

My immediate view (all we can give in time frame) is that the 20mph limit is welcome, and actually matches the approach seen in some of the 20mph borough limits of signage rather than traffic calming. Given the issues cycles can have in navigating road humps, pillows and other deformations in the road for traffic calming a limit may be preferable. Experience locally will need to show us how this works, and issues of through traffic may be more important to resolve than speed alone. The other issue is that clearly the 20mph limit is only for a fraction of the roads in this neighbourhood area. No rationale is given for containing the changes to these roads, though it may be only residents in those streets requested 20mph. The roads chosen border the hospital and a school, but the S marks in the map above show schools are not just in the area concerned.

Margavine Gardens Congestion and Streetscape

Here is the consultation letter from the council.

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Plan of changes to Margavine Gardens. Click through for a larger version.

The second proposal is to rework an existing arrangement of kerb build outs, car, motorcycle and cycle parking to provide more usable carriageway for vehicles and reduce congestion. It’s worth taking a look at the area as it is now. Note the car parked on the single yellow line in this google streetview capture.


View Larger Map

There is no increase to cycle stands here, some car parking would be removed near to Baron’s Court but many more spaces have recently been added in the overall neighbourhood. The council believes they have added 30 spaces for cars. Our concern is that there are not sufficient cycle stands in this area, by Baron’s Court tube station. The proposal presents no improvement to conditions on the roads for cyclists.