Council to propose removing barriers at all low traffic schemes

The move would see existing barriers and planters removed from all sites.

The proposal will be one of the key recommendations at the next meeting of the Council’s Environment & Sustainable Transport Committee when councillors will review the borough’s Safer, Active, Greener Streets programme after its first four months of operation.

Two of the five trial schemes - Butter Hill and Worcester Park - are currently enforced with cameras. The switch, if agreed by councillors, will mean that enforcement at any other schemes will be by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras.

The Council communicates with the borough’s emergency services on a weekly basis about how its trial Safer, Active, Greener Streets schemes are operating. Following their feedback, the Council is proposing to remove any physical barriers and replace them with cameras to allow emergency services access to all parts of the borough.

Councillors will discuss the proposals at their meeting on 28 January and will be asked to back the move as part of the borough’s response to the pandemic and supporting the emergency services locally.

Councillor Manuel Abellan, Chair of the Council’s Environment and Sustainable Transport Committee, said:

“The Council has always had a very good relationship with the borough’s emergency services. This proposal to switch to camera enforcement at all our schemes is the latest example of our positive partnership working.

“If the proposal is agreed at Committee, having cameras across our trial low traffic areas and School Streets will mean all the borough’s roads are fully accessible to the borough’s emergency services and will ensure there are no possible delays when on call. It will also mean that those who deliberately flout the traffic regulations will get caught and fined.

“The Council has always said it would listen to the feedback on its Safer, Active, Greener Streets schemes. This is a critical time for our emergency services after the Mayor of London declared a major incident due to the pressure on the NHS and London Ambulance Service as a result of coronavirus. 

“I hope that the Committee will agree to this proposal for cameras for the rest of the trial period.”