Petition details
Stop Old Nichol Street Road Closure
he petition is based on the following grounds:
1. The restrictions are unduly biased against the local residents
as it causes accessibility issues. In addition, these restrictions
are divisive for community cohesion.
2. Allow parking overflow to the adjacent roads, as there is not
sufficient parking space for residential flats and houses
surrounding Old Nichol Street. Hence, resident permit bays should
stay and not be converted to shared space, e.g. pay-by-phone.
3. Significant increase in congestion, noise, and air pollution is
created, as residents need to travel around for 15 minutes or more
to find free resident parking bays on the adjacent roads.
4. Measures discriminate residents with mobility issues/disability,
as these residents now have a 250 metres journey turned into a 2
miles journey. Also causing access difficulties for carers and
delays to emergency services, (as every second counts).
5. Additional congestion and constant daytime stagnant traffic on
Bethnal Green Road and Hackney road are impacting the health of
residents, particularly if residents need to travel 15 minutes or
more to find parking space on adjacent roads, (as per point
2).
6. No consultation made by fully engaging the local residents on
implementing the order. The action discriminates against those with
language barriers and digitally excluded, as well as the statement
on the order makes the assumption that residents understand the
Traffic Management Act.
We also call for the opening of vehicle access to Boundary Street
from Old Nichol Street for better traffic flow management and
preventing congestion under the Road Traffic Act (1984), Section 32
and 57, in the area.
This Petition ran from 05/06/2021 to 17/08/2021 and has now finished.
29 people signed this Petition.
Council response
Thank you for your petition regarding the above matter. We have been asked to respond to you. Please accept my apologies for the delay in coming back to you.
1. The restrictions are unduly biased against the local residents as it causes accessibility issues. In addition, these restrictions are divisive for community cohesion.
The Bethnal Green Liveable Streets scheme is under review which will be concluded in November. The scheme has resulted in a significant reduction in through traffic and in that regard, it has been successful in meeting it’s objectives. However, it is recognised that there are residents who are experiencing issues of severance that result in significantly longer trips and can often require the use of major roads such as Hackney Road and Bethnal Green Road.
The review will focus on the access implications for residents and look at the closure on Old Nichol Street. This will be discussed with residents ahead of making changes where required and consulting on these changes.
2. Allow parking overflow to the adjacent roads, as there is not sufficient parking space for residential flats and houses surrounding Old Nichol Street. Hence, resident permit bays should stay and not be converted to shared space, e.g. pay-by-phone.
A5 parking permits allow permit holders to use adjacent roads to where they live. The closure on Old Nicole Street has no bearing on the number of available parking bays on street. However, it is recognised that physical closures can restrict access to bays, and this is being considered in the review. There are no proposals to convert resident permit bays to pay-by-phone in the area.
3. Significant increase in congestion, noise, and air pollution is created, as residents need to travel around for 15 minutes or more to find free resident parking bays on the adjacent roads.
The implications of the closures on resident journeys will be considered in the review mentioned in the first response above.
4. Measures discriminate residents with mobility issues/disability, as these residents now have a 250 metres journey turned into a 2 miles journey. Also causing access difficulties for carers and delays to emergency services, (as every second counts).
The implications of the closures on residents with mobility issues/disability will be considered in the review mentioned above. Furthermore, discussions with the three main emergency services are an essential part of this review and we will seek to address and concerns they have from with the existing schemes.
5. Additional congestion and constant daytime stagnant traffic on Bethnal Green Road and Hackney road are impacting the health of residents, particularly if residents need to travel 15 minutes or more to find parking space on adjacent roads, (as per point 2).
There are multiple factors causing the congestion on Bethnal Green Road and Hackney Road. Diverted through traffic from Bethnal Green and Hackney are two of these factors. This through traffic was impacting on the health in all our neighborhoods and through traffic should be using these major roads and not smaller residential streets.
Please see the response to point 2. It is recognized that physical closures can restricted access to bays, and this is being considered in the review.
6. No consultation made by fully engaging the local residents on implementing the order. The action discriminates against those with language barriers and digitally excluded, as well as the statement on the order makes the assumption that residents understand the Traffic Management Act.
These changes were subject to extensive public consultation and were implemented under an experimental traffic order. Following the review, the council will be consulting publicly on changes and this consultation will include the option to engage online as well as extra efforts to engage directly with residents where language barriers and issues of digital exclusion exist. We are developing these engagement channels and welcome suggestions from the petitioner in shaping them. Please email mohammed.chibou@towerhamlets.gov.uk to discuss this further.
Kind regards,
Dan Jones
Director – Public Realm
Public Realm Division
Place Directorate